The Mermaid Bride
by cheri1
Summary: Eleven/Rose with Amy/Rory and River. Sequel to Predator and Prey. The people of Seashell are terrified of something in the ocean beside their town. When the Doctor and his friends investigate, Rose is kidnapped and everyone must find a way to get her back before it's too late.
1. Prologue

A/N: This story is the sequel to Predator and Prey and takes place three months after the events of the story.

Prologue

She knew someone was watching her. She could sense it.

Tania wasn't supposed to be here. The seaside was too dangerous or…that's what the elders said to everyone in her town. The little town of Seashell had been by the seaside for generations and the people there made their living fishing the waters just off shore. But it was only recently that the fish, which used to be in abundance seemed to be dwindling and the wooden fishing boats were forced to go further and further from the town in order to find enough to sustain everyone. The people of Seashell were down to Earth with simple ways. They weren't as technologically advanced as some of their neighbors on nearby planets. The neighbors occasionally flew in to trade with them but since Seashell's main export was fish and seafood, the visits were few and far between. Still, some of the richer townsfolk did manage to get a laser blaster or two to add to their collection of stuff.

That was the way life was for their town and it had remained that way for hundreds of years. But now there was something in the ocean. Something that wasn't pleased with them. Something that was pulling some of the townspeople underwater as they swam just offshore. Those who were pulled under were never seen again so the elders, the leaders of Seashell told everyone to stay away from the seaside. But Tania looked walking on the sand and sitting for hours on the beach just looking at the waves as they came rolling in. She had grown up around the ocean and knew no other life. She never had any reason to fear it but she had to admit sometimes she saw the sun flash off something under the water. It would flash for only a few seconds and you would miss it if you didn't know what you were looking for but she could see it and it frightened her. So nowadays when she sat on the sand, she sat up on a rocky overhang just in case the thing came out of the water. And that was why she could see the flash so well. She tried to tell others about the flash but not many people would listen to a ten year old orphan girl so she quickly learned to keep her mouth shut when it happened.

Tania sat down on the overhang and pulled off her leather slippers. She pulled her legs up to her chest, feeling the wind going underneath her purple dress while it whipped her long, brown hair around. Her striking, deep blue eyes scanned the water for the flash. She saw it again after about ten minutes of searching and she shook her head.

"What are you?" she murmured to herself.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The Doctor smiled to himself when he heard distant laughter drifting in from the back door. It had been a day since River had come on board and his three companions were happy and having fun. John, his clone, had finally asked River to be his wife and River accepted. After Jack contacted him and told him the news, the Doctor decided to take River somewhere to celebrate with everyone on board the TARDIS while Jack did the same with John. The Doctor allowed the day of rest to allow River to ease back into TARDIS life before they went to their destination. He had asked River what she wanted and River told him a beach somewhere so he was running possible destinations through his mind while flipping through a magazine on quantum physics.

"Well, look who won't join the party."

The Doctor looked up as River came down the steps to the main platform. She was wearing a pale blue dress that was off the shoulder and down to her ankles. Brown leather sandals completed the look and the Doctor admired her outfit for a moment while River walked up to him.

"I'm letting you get reacquainted with everyone. I'm fine," the Doctor said. "I like a bit of alone time to get my thoughts in order."

"Yes, but sometimes I think you spend too much time alone," River said, leaning against the rim of the console.

"River, you don't have to live with your mother and Rose 24/7. Those two join forces and drive me around the bend. They menaced me with lipstick the other day."

"Lipstick? In what way did they menace you with lipstick, sweetie?" River said, amused.

"They…tried to write berk on my forehead with it," the Doctor said sheepishly.

River snickered at that.

"You are a berk. But a cute berk," she said, pinching his cheek. "But I didn't come out here just to rabbit on; I wanted to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Now before you say anything, this isn't Rose's idea, it's mine…and John's…but mainly mine. So don't get angry at Rose, she doesn't know about what I'm going to say."

"Okay," the Doctor said, confused. "Is this something bad?"

"Depends on how you take my suggestion."

"Okay, go ahead," the Doctor said, wondering what all this was about.

"Rose told me you did the Gallifreyan bonding ceremony with her."

The Doctor nodded.

"I know I'm not Gallifreyan but the TARDIS showed me many things about your world when she taught me how to fly her and I know what that is. It's a declaration of love for her and a pledge to be hers forever, is it not?"

"Basically," the Doctor said.

"I wanted Rose to be one of my bridesmaids but I talked it over with John and we think there should be a double wedding. Me and John and you and Rose."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Why would I need to marry Rose when I already performed the bonding ceremony with her?" he said.

"Because we thought you should make it official," River said.

"And it's not official?" the Doctor said.

"Well…yes, it is. But we want to have a grand wedding and we'd like you to be a part of it."

"And you haven't spoken to Rose about this?" the Doctor said.

"Not yet. I thought I would ask you first since the Gallifreyan male must always ask for the female's hand in marriage. If you're following Gallifreyan tradition and all…John did."

The Doctor scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"Normally, I would say no but things aren't like they used to be. I would have said no before I found out that the Bad Wolf retarded her aging process indefinitely."

River nodded.

"So you can't use the Curse of the Time Lords thing any longer. Not with her," she said.

The Doctor got up from his chair and tossed the magazine on the console.

"But I don't see the need for a wedding. We're married in all but name now. I made her my lives mate. So, going through an Earth wedding seems redundant to me," he said to her.

"And it probably is. But Rose is human and I'm betting she'd love a beautiful wedding and wear a beautiful white dress for you as she walks down the aisle. Wouldn't you like to see her like that?"

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

"So what if it's redundant? Think of it as…renewing your vows or something like that. John and I would like you there to share in our joy and we can share in yours."

"This wedding you have in mind. Is it a Gallifreyan wedding, an Earth wedding or a mixture of both?" he asked her.

"We'd like it to be mainly Gallifreyan," River said.

"Ugh, that'd mean dragging out my robes," the Doctor said, making a face.

"Well, we can have a mixture then. Have the ceremony be Gallifreyan but with Earth clothes. That way you won't have to drag out your robes," River teased.

"And you want me to propose to Rose?"

"I just thought since you're doing everything traditionally that you would be the one to propose marriage to her. Otherwise, I would have asked Rose about this beforehand."

"And where is the marriage being held? I don't think the C of E would be appropriate for a Gallifreyan marriage ceremony. The vicar might get confused."

"We can find a nice spot if you don't want Earth and bring everyone there in the TARDIS. We can sort all this out later, I just wanted to know if you wanna do it."

The Doctor thought it over for a moment and then chuckled.

"River, you're very persuasive when you want to be," he said.

"I have to be, look at who I fell in love with," River said with a wink. "So you will?"

"Yes, but let me speak to Rose. You can speak to your parents."

River let out a little squeal, ran over and hugged him.

"Thank you, sweetie. This makes the holiday we're on that much more joyful. I'll tell mum and dad. Good luck with Rose."

The Doctor nodded and watched while River hurried up the steps and out of the room.

"Wedding. God, now we have to invite Jackie to it," he murmured, making a face. "I can just imagine her reaction. What? We're going to Mars for this wedding?," he said, imitating her voice.

He grinned at the image of Jackie flipping out over going to a Mars wedding and grinned even more at the thought of Ice Warriors chasing her around Mars. He sighed as he let the fantasy fade in his mind. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he went up the steps so he could go find Rose.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Rose sat under a tree and stretched out her legs. She was inside the TARDIS in a garden room that she had discovered when she first started traveling with the Doctor. The room was simulated to look like it was outdoors. There was grass as far as the eye could see with trees scattered everywhere. Vibrant flowers grew in patches and butterflies fluttered around them. The sky was always sunny with minimal clouds and occasionally there was even a rainbow to provide a bit of color in the heavens. It never clouded over completely and it never rained. It was the perfect meditation spot and Rose made it her own private spot.

She came here to take a break from the others. Since River came aboard, the two of them had spent time with Amy and Rory and had been pretty much inseparable, except when they slept. River told Rose she wanted to speak to the Doctor for a moment and the Ponds went off to their room so Rose came in here and sat down. She was still sat on the ground when the Doctor came in. She was dressed for the beach, leather sandals and a white sundress. Since coming back to the Doctor and becoming his lives mate, the TARDIS had begun to teach her about Gallifreyan history and culture and Rose had adopted some of the ways of the Doctor's people. She was growing her hair out and had it pulled back and twisted into a bun that looked like a small figure eight. The hairstyle had been popular among the Gallifreyan women because it resembled the Seal of Rassilon. At first, it had been time consuming to get the bun to look just right but now it took her all of ten minutes to twist it into the figure eight design after using a rubber band to divide her ponytail in half. The rubber band acted as the center of the figure eight. Then she used a clip to affix the bottom of the ponytail to the rubber band and then she turned it up so the loop formed the top part and clipped it again and finally used a couple of Kirby grips to hold the bun against her head and put it in place. She liked it and so did the Doctor so it was now her usual hairstyle.

She smiled at the Doctor while he approached her.

"You look lovely," he said, sitting down beside her. "You fancy that Seal of Rassilon hairdo, don't ya?"

"Yeah, I like it. It took several days to master it but I love the way it looks when I do it properly."

"As do I, I'm glad you're adopting the ways of my people. But I don't understand why you insist on coming in here. It's beautiful but I find the butterfly room more peaceful."

"Yes but I found this before the butterfly room and made it my own. I'd rather come here," Rose said. "Did you find River? She's looking for ya."

"She did find me and that's why I'm here. I need to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

The Doctor sighed and leaned up against the tree.

"River is insisting on a double wedding with us as the second couple," he said. "I told her the A'tieri ritual is similar to marriage since we shared essences and made a vow to be together and a marriage would be a bit redundant after that but she wants us to be there alongside her and John. What'd ya think?"

"I wouldn't mind. What we did was between us and it would be nice to do something openly that everyone could attend."

"Even your mum?"

"Are you gonna go get her?" Rose said.

"If you want, I'll have the TARDIS try to find another gap for us to go through and use the energy booster again. But…River wants a traditional Gallifreyan wedding or at least a mixture since I told her I didn't want to wear my Prydonnian robes. If we do this, we can't go to an Earth church. We'd have to find somewhere else and I can just see Jackie whinging about it. It's your call but you know, she's in another universe and we don't have to let her know.

"Yeah but I'd like for her to come if you can get over there safely," Rose said. "I don't know how mum would feel about it but if she ever gets word about us marrying without her there, I'll never hear the end of it."

"Fair enough," the Doctor said.

"What about Amy and Rory then?" Rose said.

"What about them?"

Rose gave him a cheeky grin.

"Triple wedding? They could renew their vows," Rose said innocently.

"Um…are we going to have an audience at all during this thing? What about Jackie and Pete renewing their vows? Maybe I could go get Mickey and Martha and we could have a long line of couples standing in a queue to say their vows like we're waiting for food at McDonalds."

Rose pinched his cheek.

"You just want to have the ceremony all to yourself," she teased.

"No, I don't want to be a part of the ceremony at all. It's supposed to be River and John's day. Good job I regenerated so you can tell me and John apart now. That would really get confusing."

"Nah, you two would have fun with it. Dress alike, act alike, switch spouses," Rose said. "You'd bring havoc on the wedding if you thought you'd get away with it."

"Mmmmm…" the Doctor said, looking away innocently, "perhaps. So are we including the Ponds in this shindig or not?"

"Ask em, I wouldn't mind and I'm sure River wouldn't. But I don't know how Rory would feel about it."

"He'd probably decline and Amy would have him by the bollocks and drag him down the aisle that way while saying, come on, stupidhead, we have to do this!" he said, doing a perfect mimicry of Amy's voice.

"That's creepy when you do that," Rose said.

"Do what, love?" he said, mimicking Rose's voice perfectly.

"Okay, stop that!" Rose teased.

"Allons-y!" he said, mimicking his tenth self's voice. "Molto bene! Shama-lama-ding-dong?"

Rose giggled and the Doctor put his arm around her and leaned in.

"You stupid apes," he said, mimicking his ninth self. "Always getting in trouble and I have to pull you out of it. Blah blah blah, whinge, whinge, whinge."

"Is that how you see yourself?" Rose said.

"Looking back on my ninth life? Yes," he said in his normal voice. "And my last life was very bouncy but very depressed towards the end. I think before you left me, it was bouncy and then alternating bouncy and sad afterwards. Then I became bouncy again in this life."

"Too right you are," Rose said, rolling her eyes and giggling when the Doctor tickled her ribcage. "But better bouncy than sullen."

"Yes! And on that note, are you ready for the seaside?"

"I am," Rose said.

He took her hand and helped her to stand up. He put his arm around while they headed for the door.

"Allons-y!" he said, mimicking his tenth self as they walked.

"Brilliant!" Rose said in a deep voice.

"Would you like a jelly baby?"

Rose frowned when he did an unfamiliar voice and asked who it was.

"That was my forth life. He was very fond of jelly babies. Want one?"

"Um…no, thanks," Rose said as the Doctor opened the door and let her go through first.

He walked out behind her, closed the door and put his arm back around her while they headed towards the console room.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Rory was stood in the bathroom cleaning his teeth while Amy sat on their bed. Amy was changing into a two piece blue bathing suit with seashells all over it. Rory was wearing red swim trunks.

"I hope the Doctor doesn't take us somewhere where there's a load of alien sharks or something like that," Amy said to her husband.

Rory had his toothbrush in his mouth so all he could say to that was "Mmm," as he brushed his teeth.

"But knowing him we'll land up on alien shark world," Amy said.

"Mmm-hmm," Rory said before taking the toothbrush out of his mouth and spitting into the sink. "Or…maybe he'll take us somewhere nice. He has managed that before," he added before putting the toothbrush back in his mouth.

"Yeah but when that happens, it seems to be a fluke like…oh? We're not going to be menaced by walking mop monsters, how wonderful!"

Rory spit out some more foamy saliva and chuckled.

"Mop monsters. I like that. Big as arctics and dead filthy from cleaning floors its entire life."

"Don't talk about it, it may come true," Amy said, getting up from the bed.

Rory finished cleaning his teeth and ran the bristles of his toothbrush through the water before putting it in the toothbrush holder. He wiped his mouth with a small towel and looked back at his wife when she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. She ran her hands down his stomach towards his crotch and felt the bulge that was forming there.

"You want me to go out to the console room with an enormous stiffy, don't you?" Rory said, looking over his shoulder at her.

"I want you to come to bed," Amy purred in his ear, "and put that stiffy to good use."

"I don't think the Doctor would wait for us to finish with our marathonkamasutra fuckfest," Rory said. "He might burst in on us and pull us off each other like we're dogs in heat."

"Come on, Ponds, quit fornicating and come explore with me," Amy said, imitating the Doctor's voice. "You can fornicate on your own time and since it's never your own time, you can't fornicate ever."

Rory chuckled. He turned around and kissed her lips while Amy wrapped her arms around his neck. Rory moaned into her mouth when they began to snog.

XOXOXOXOXOXO

When the Doctor and Rose walked into the console room, they saw several bathing suits laid out on the console.

"What's this? The TARDIS cozzy counter?" the Doctor said, gesturing to the different suimsuits on his console.

"I asked the TARDIS to make some swimsuits for me since I didn't have any. I didn't get a response and went to my private room but I s'pose she was thinking up different designs and she brought them here instead of my bedroom."

There were one piece swimsuits and bikinis and Rose looked them over while the Doctor sat down and watched her.

"Are you going to try those on for me, one at a time?" he asked her.

"Do you want me to?" Rose said, giving him a seductive look.

"Well, if you do, be quick about it. We're not alone in here, remember."

Rose held up a white one piece swimsuit that had roses all over it.

"This is cute, I like this one," Rose said.

"And if you get lost, I can just say to people, where is the Rose woman wearing the roses?"

There was a flash of light around Rose and when the light vanished, she was dressed in the swimsuit and the sundress was on the console beside her. She turned from side to side, modeling for the Doctor while he gave her an appreciative look.

"I like this one," the Doctor said. "The others are just plain colors but this has roses on it. It suits you."

"Yeah, I like it as well. I want this one, TARDIS," Rose said to the ceiling.

The Doctor let out a sigh of relief when the other swimsuits vanished off his console, leaving only the sundress. Rose took the dress off the console and draped it over the railing. She still had her sandals on her feet and the Doctor admired her beauty.

Then suddenly a flash of light surrounded him and he gasped when it faded and he was dressed in swim trunks, his other outfit taken somewhere else. He stood up and looked down at the trunks when Rose burst out laughing. The trunks were TARDIS blue with PROPERTY OF THE TARDIS all over the trunks in white lettering.

"Ha ha," the Doctor said dryly while the TARDIS grumbled out a laugh. "Now…we need towels and a large umbrella for shade and some toys, rafts and some drinks and sandwiches."

There was a huge flash beside the Doctor and there were five white towels, a rainbow colored beach towel, a matching rainbow colored beach umbrella, a yellow inflatable raft, a beach ball, a yellow toy pail and spade and a red cooler filled with sodas and sandwiches. The Doctor gave his ship a thumb's up and thanked her. The Doctor picked up the pail and spade and Rose laughed when he tried to bop her on the head with the spade and put the bucket over her head. He stopped when River came into the room, dressed in a white one piece swimsuit. She paused on the steps and admired Rose's swimsuit.

"I love that, it suits you," she said to Rose as she stepped onto the main platform.

"Thanks, the TARDIS chose it for me," Rose said.

"Did the Doctor speak to you?" River said.

"I did," the Doctor said. "And we agreed to it."

River let out a squeal of delight and hugged Rose. Rose told her about her idea about Amy and Rory renewing their vows with them.

"That would be nice. I didn't get to see mum and dad get married. I only came to the reception afterwards when I was trying to jog Amy's memory and make her remember the Doctor," River said. "I know mum would want to do it."

"Want to do what?" Amy said as she and Rory came into the room.

Rose told them about her idea and Amy glanced at her husband.

"How 'bout it?" Amy said to Rory.

"I will if you lot want us to. But where would we have the wedding?"

"I'll figure out a place," the Doctor said. "I'll have to go get Jackie and find a way back to the other universe. I can ask the TARDIS to find a gap for us. In the meantime, let's relax and have a day of fun."

"Without mop monsters," Rory said.

"I'm sorry?" the Doctor said while Amy giggled and gave her husband a playful swat on the arm.

"Private joke," Amy said.

"Right. Well, I don't know about mop monsters but I'll do my best to find somewhere where there aren't any. I was thinking the planet of Bellaluna. They're famous for their seaside resorts and they make a killer candy floss that's light and delicate and melts in your mouth. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded and stood back as he went to work, inputting the coordinates and changing the TARDIS's course.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

The Doctor opened the front door and his eyes widened when he saw the waves crashing onto the beach only ten feet from the TARDIS door. He opened the doors up wide and came outside, holding the rubber raft under his left arm, his towel draped over his right. Everyone else came out behind him, holding the towels and equipment in their hands. Rory sat the umbrella up against the side of the TARDIS before closing the doors.

"See, the TARDIS can land us right at the ocean's edge, better than a hotel any day," the Doctor crowed. "What other view could compare to this one?"

"Yeah, yeah, sweetie, you're completely brilliant," River said dryly. "Now, let's get this stuff set up and go for a swim."

Rory grabbed the umbrella and went behind the TARDIS.

"Um…Doctor, come here," Rory said.

The Doctor turned and went around the TARDIS and froze when he saw a young girl sitting on a rocky overhang. Her eyes were wide while she stared at them. Beyond her was a small village that wasn't modern and didn't look like a seaside resort.

"This is Bellaluna?" Rory said to him while everyone else came around the TARDIS.

"If it is, they've decided to go for the cheap and cheerful look with the buildings," the Doctor said, setting his towel and raft down on the ground.

Everyone laid down their towels and gear with his stuff while the Doctor headed towards the girl.

"Hello there," he said with a wide grin. "Is this Bellaluna?"

"Um…no, this is Seashell," the girl said, pointing back to the town.

"No, I mean is the planet called Bellaluna?" the Doctor said.

"No, the planet is called Tinnitue. This is Seashell," she said, once again pointing back to the town.

"Tinnitue. Not familiar with that one," the Doctor said, frowning.

"So…not Bellaluna," River said as everyone came up behind him.

"No. But look…ocean, surf, sand, sun…well, two suns," he said, pointing to the two distant suns in the sky. "I still brought us somewhere where we can swim and relax."

"I wouldn't go in there," the girl said, pointing to the ocean.

"Oh? Why not?" the Doctor said.

"Because there's something in the ocean and it's kidnapping people," she said to them.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"See, what'd I tell ya?" Amy said to her husband, "mop monsters."

"So, what is in the water then?" the Doctor said, ignoring Amy.

"Dunno, but I see a flash of light sometimes," the girl said, pointing.

They looked where she was pointing before the Doctor turned back to her.

"And who are you?" he asked her.

"I'm Tania."

"Tania, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose, River, Amy and Rory."

"What is that thing?" Tania said, pointing to the TARDIS. "There was this weird noise and you just appeared out of nowhere."

"Yes, we do that. That's my ship."

"Spaceship? Doesn't look like any spaceship I've ever seen," Tania said, frowning.

"Well, spaceships come in all shapes and sizes," the Doctor said. "I just happened to have one that's box shaped."

"So when did the kidnappings start?" River asked Tania.

"About three months ago," Tania said.

"And how many have been kidnapped?" Rory asked.

"Ten, I think. They try to keep all the bad news from us kids but I hear things. The elders of our town told us not to go near the ocean anymore."

"Then why are you here?" Rose said.

"Because I like the ocean. I like to watch the waves," Tania said.

"I do too," the Doctor said. "This flash of light, how big is it?"

"Not very big. It's hard to see unless you know what to look for. But it's there; I just saw another one five minutes ago."

The Doctor walked to the edge of the overhang and climbed up onto it. He walked over to Tania's side and scanned the ocean, looking for a flash of light. Tania was still sitting and was eye level with his swim trunks.

"What's the TARDIS?" she asked him.

The Doctor pointed to his ship.

"And you're the property of your ship?"

His companions laughed when the Doctor blushed deeply.

"It's…a…private joke," he muttered. "Anyway, whereabouts do you see this flash?"

Tania pointed and the Doctor folded his arms over his chest while he stared intently at the ocean. The others walked around to the end of the overhang and climbed up onto it. They walked over to the Doctor and stood with him, lending their eyes while Tania sat beside them and turned her attention back to the ocean. The Doctor noticed a black speck far in the distance and pointed to it while he asked Tania if she knew what it was.

"That's one of our fishing boats," Tania said. "They used to stay close to the shore but the seafood was running out here so they go further and further out now."

"Doctor!" Rose said, grabbing his arm. "I think I saw it, a little flash of light under the water there," she said, pointing off to the left of where the Doctor was looking.

"How big was it?" the Doctor said to her.

"Not big," Rose said, shaking her head. "If it's a transmat like I thought it was or a teleport, it must be teleporting mice because it's maybe a few centimeters in size. But it's not the sunlight."

"Are we going out to take a look?" Rory said to the Doctor.

The Doctor didn't answer him at first while he thought.

"Tania," he finally said. "When did your people start to go further afield in search of food?"

"A few months ago."

"Around the same time the kidnappings started?" the Doctor said.

Tania nodded.

"I have a theory then," the Doctor said to everyone. "I think when your people went out further in search of food, they may have invaded someone's turf and now the someones are getting revenge."

"Ocean dwelling aliens?" River said.

"Perhaps, there are species that live entirely in water. Perhaps these beings are territorial and didn't attack until Tania's people started going out further in search of food. I can't know that for sure until I find out what we're dealing with here. And that requires a change of equipment," he said, hopping off the overhang onto the sand. "Wait here, I'll be back in a mo."

He ran back to the TARDIS while the others sat down beside Tania."

"There's something living in the ocean that takes people?" Tania said to them.

Amy leaned up.

"We travel with the Doctor to different places and Rory and me met these alien fish creatures that lived in water, at least most of them did. So yes, it's possible that there's something that went spare when your people started fishing in a different place."

"We have to tell the elders then," Tania said. "They need to know what's happening."

"Perhaps we can split up then?" Rory said. "One group goes with the Doctor, one goes with Tania?"

"You want to help us?" Tania said.

"Yes, love. Because we try to help people wherever we can," River said gently. "Even if we're not related to anyone in the town, we still want to find out what's going on here and try to stop it."

"Maybe these things in the ocean can be reasoned with," Rose said. "If they're angry, maybe we can work something out between your people and theirs and stop the kidnappings."

"The elders still need to know," Tania said. "They can decide if they want to talk to these sea creatures or not."

"That's why some of us should go with you?" Rory said. "We can help with that and try to convince your people not to go out and attack these creatures before we find out if we can negotiate peace."

Tania nodded. She watched while the Doctor came back around the TARDIS holding a large ball of orange rubber, two plastic oars and several clear plastic tubes with little silver boxes attached to the end of them. He put the ball of rubber down on the ground and pulled a black ripcord. There was a hiss and suddenly the ball expanded out into a four person raft. He put the oars inside it and walked over to the overhang. He passed the tubes out to everyone.

"These are breathing tubes for underwater exploration," he explained. "There are nasal prongs similar to the ones found on nasal cannula in hospitals. You put the prongs in your nostrils and wrap the tube around your face and snap the free end into the box. When you breath out into it, the carbon dioxide will go around, go through the box and be converted into oxygen which you breathe back in. These will allow you to stay underwater indefinitely since you have a steady supply of oxygen."

"Doctor, Tania wants to go back to town and talk to the elders," Rory said. "We thought perhaps we should split up and half of us go with her and the other half go with you?"

"Good idea. Why don't you and Amy go with her? I'll take Rose and River. The raft can only hold four people anyway. Take the breathing tubes with you, just in case. Try to meet with us back here in a few hours so we can exchange findings."

"You want to go out there? What if you get kidnapped?" Tania said.

"That's a risk we have to take. We need to get to the bottom of this and we can't do it from shore," the Doctor said. "Don't worry; we handle this sort of thing all the time. Rory, Amy, good luck with the elders. Tania, please take them into town with you and look after them. Rose, River, let's go rafting, shall we?"


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

River glanced at Rose while they sat in the raft with the Doctor. Before taking the raft into the water, the Doctor had a thought and went back into the TARDIS for a few more things…

"Here we are," the Doctor said, coming out of the TARDIS carrying three life vests and a megaphone.

"Well, isn't this thoughtful," River said as the Doctor passed out the life vests to Rose and River. "I'm glad you decided to give us something to wear in case Rose and I go overboard at some point."

"What with the megaphone though?" Rose said, pointing to it.

"THIS IS SO I CAN BE IN CHARGE WHEN YOU ROW ME TO THE SPOT YOU SAW THE FLASH!" the Doctor said into it.

Amy, Rory and Tania, who were walking towards the town, turned at the sound of the Doctor's booming voice and stared at him. River rolled her eyes and told them to go on.

"OKAY, EVERYONE INTO THE BOAT!" he said into the megaphone as he pointed to the raft.

"I can already see this will be irritating beyond measure," River said to Rose as they stepped into the boat.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"STROKE, STROKE, STROKE, STROKE!"

Rose and River glared at the Doctor as he sat at the front of the boat, using the megaphone and yelling at them while they propelled the boat forward with the oars.

"If you don't stop that, I will shove that thing down your throat," River growled at him.

"MUSH!" he said, pronouncing the word like "moosh." "MOOSH, I SAY! MOOSH, MY DOGGIES! ROW FOR YOUR MASTER!"

"Can I pulled the megaphone back out when you ram it down his throat? I want to have a go when you're finished," Rose said to River.

"MOOSH, MOOSH, MOOSH! COME ON, GIRLS; PUT YOUR BACKS INTO IT! WHAT'D I PAY YA FOR? MOOSH!"

He stopped when River raised her dripping wet oar above her head and gave him a warning look. The Doctor put the megaphone in between his legs and folded his hands in his lap.

"Only trying to help. I obviously can't row since there are two oars," he said.

By that time, they reached the spot that Tania pointed out to them. Rose and River put the oars in the boat and all of them peered over the side, trying to see anything down below. The ocean was bobbing slightly with the beginnings of waves and the boat rode the bumps while the three of them scanned the water for any sign of a flash. When the boat began to drift away from the spot, the Doctor used one of the oars to go back. They stared at the water for ten minutes but didn't see anything. Then the Doctor reached down and grabbed one of the breathing tubes from the bottom of the raft.

"Gonna have a dekko and see if I can see it," he said as he put the prongs in his nose and wrapped the tube around his face.

"I'm going with you," Rose said, grabbing another one.

"River, stay with the boat for now and make sure it doesn't drift away since we don't have an anchor."

"Just be careful, both of you," River said.

The Doctor helped Rose put her breathing tube on and snapped the end of the tube into the metal box. They shrugged off their life vests and put them on the bottom of the raft. Then they sat up on the plump side of the boat and both of them went into the ocean backwards. River gripped the sides for a moment until the boat stopped its violent rocking. She used the oar to paddle back to the spot the Doctor and River dove in and leaned over the side to watch for them.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

It took a moment for Rose to get over her feeling of panic and breathe normally through the tube. She kept her mouth clamped shut as she and the Doctor kicked through the water. For the moment, she couldn't see much of anything except for a few strange fish swimming past her. They were out far enough that she could barely see the sandy bottom below them. For the life of her, she didn't know what to look for. She wondered if any of the fish swimming past them was the life forms they were hunting for. She had to admit though; swimming through the water was extremely peaceful. And thanks to her hair being tied back, it was away from her face, unlike her mate who kept having to pull his droopy hair out of his eyes as he kicked through the water.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw the bottom of the orange raft bobbing in the water. She could make out the outline of River's head and knew she was watching for them. She smiled and angled her body up towards the surface of the water. She stuck her hand up through it and looked back when she waved at River. She could see River wave back and she brought her hand back down again and kicked her legs, trying to catch up to the Doctor.

The further they went from the boat, the deeper the water became until Rose suddenly couldn't see the bottom anymore. She saw a deep darkness beneath her and guessed it was an underwater trench. More strange fish swam around under her and she prayed none of them were bloodthirsty.

The Doctor turned around and got her attention by waving. He then pointed up and both of them surfaced.

"Did you see anything?" the Doctor asked her as River began to paddle towards them.

"Not a sausage. I don't know what we're s'posed to be looking for," Rose said as they treaded water.

"No, me neither. I assume it's bigger than a fish if it can kidnap people."

They put their hands on the side of the boat when River came up beside them.

"Anything?" she said.

"No. Just random fish that wouldn't be big enough to pull people under," the Doctor said.

Suddenly, Rose gasped and they looked at her.

"I felt something brush my feet and I don't think it was a fish," she said.

The Doctor looked down and noticed a couple of flashes in the water under Rose. He told Rose to wait and he went under. He was shocked when he saw a merman glaring at him. He was a few feet under Rose's feet and he noticed that the sun was shining off his iridescent scales, making them glow. He suddenly realized that the flash of light must be the light bouncing off the scales while he swam just under the surface. The man had sandy blonde hair that went down to the middle of his back and an angular face and square jaw. He had intense blue eyes, the bluest the Doctor had ever seen. The man's fish tale was also blue but with that iridescent sheen that the Doctor thought was beautiful. He pointed up to the surface so he could communicate with the merman face to face. The merman shook his head and blonde hair rippled around his face.

Who are you and what do you want? The merman thought to the Doctor.

Ah, telepathy is it? The Doctor thought back.

The merman seemed surprised that the Doctor could communicate back.

You're not like the others, he thought to the Doctor.

No, I'm not. I'm called the Doctor and you are…

The merman hesitated a moment and he swam around in an agitated figure eight. The Doctor saw the sun flashing off the scales and he glanced up and saw Rose and River looking at him.

"The flash of light," Rose mouthed to him as he pointed to the merman's body.

The Doctor nodded. He surfaced beside her.

"Trying to establish a rapport with him. He's speaking telepathically and I'm doing the same. I told him my name but when I asked for his, he grew agitated. Or maybe he's decided whether to trust us or not."

The merman surface on Rose's left side.

"Good thing Jack isn't here, he'd be on him in a heartbeat," River said to the Doctor.

"Yes, I know," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes. "So…can I have your name then?" he said to the merman.

"Why are you disturbing our hunting grounds?" the merman said to him.

"Ok, so no introductions then," the Doctor said. "If you mean why are the people of Seashell hunting in your hunting grounds, it's because they're in need of food. Why are you taking people?"

Again, the man hesitated and gave them a wary look. The Doctor sighed, hating wariness when he was trying to establish a friendship.

"Look, we're trying to help all of you," the Doctor said. "We want your people and the humans to live in peace but that can't happen unless a dialogue begins. We're not going to harm you; we just want to know what's happened here and why you're taking people. And I would love to know your name as well. I gave you mine and this is River and Rose."

The merman studied Rose for a moment and Rose thought she could see a flicker of lust in his eyes.

"Please, we want to help you," Rose said.

"Circady."

"I'm sorry?" the Doctor said.

"Circady. You asked for my name and my name is Circady. I am prince of the merpeople of the Kingdom of Sheshandalla."

"Okay, Circady. Can you ask your father or mother to come and speak with us so we can come to a peace between the merpeople and the humans?" the Doctor said.

"If this…dialogue is to occur, it will occur in Sheshandalla," Circady said.

"Okay. But is that underwater? Because that might be a problem," the Doctor said.

"You swam underwater. I watched you from the deep, dark hole."

"Yes. But this is a special breathing apparatus that allows us to breathe underwater," the Doctor said, pointing to his breathing tube.

"Then wear the breathing apparatus and come to Sheshandalla."

"Okay, how far down is it? Because if we go too far down the water pressure will crush us," the Doctor said. "Can't we have this here…on a boat?"

"No. My parents will never come to the surface. You come to us," Circady said.

"Look. You're being unreasonable," the Doctor said. "No human can survive for long under the water."

"Then you will not be able to follow us," Circady said smugly.

The Doctor was confused. He was about to ask who "Us" were when suddenly Rose gasped and was pulled under the water. Circady dove under the water, a smug grin on his face while the Doctor cursed. River quickly took off her life vest and put her breathing tube on while the Doctor went under and began to kick. He could see Circady swimming away while three burly mermen surrounded Rose and took her with them. Rose was enclosed in some sort of air bubble and the Doctor hoped that would protect her from the water pressure since the mermen were heading towards the trench as fast as they could go. He looked up when River came into the water and tried to kick down after them. But the mermen were faster than they were and they watched Rose beat on the air bubble in futility a few seconds before they vanished down into the inky black darkness of the trench a hundred feet below them.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Rose floated inside the bubble, looking up out of the trench. The water around them was dark and she couldn't see a thing. But suddenly, there was a bright glow and the three mermen guards were wearing glowing balls around their necks. It provided some illumination and Rose noticed that Circady was now with them. The three mermen said nothing to her but she could tell they were guards by the bulk of their muscular bodies and the hardened looks in their eyes. She couldn't open her mouth to speak to her and she wondered if they could speak underwater. The trench was deep but no one was moving and Rose remembered that the trench was close to shore and the kidnappings didn't happen until the people of Seashell started fishing further out to sea. She remembered the fishing boat they saw, a speck on the horizon, and she prayed that they weren't going to travel that far out into the ocean.

She could see a glimmer of light far above and knew it was the suns' reflections off the top but it was so far away, she could barely make it out. Was the Doctor still up there with River, negotiating for her release. They hadn't killed her so she took that as a sign that perhaps she was meant to be a bargaining chip between the merpeople and the humans. Or maybe this was a way to make sure the Doctor complied with whatever demands Circady's people might have. If that was their intention, she knew the Doctor wouldn't go along with it.

She felt a twinge of panic being down this far under the ocean but she suppressed it. The Doctor had taught her too well for her to go berserk and beg and plead for mercy. She forced herself to concentrate on the problem at hand which was escaping without being crushed by the intense pressure. Somehow the bubble was preventing that but she felt sure if she found a way to pop the bubble, the protection the bubble offered would be gone and she would dead long before she reached the surface.

She wondered if this was what happened to the others who were kidnapped. Were they put somewhere perhaps as hostages or were they killed? She hoped they were alive somewhere so they could rescue them.

The water around them was dark and it shocked Rose when Circady suddenly swam into the light. He looked at his buddies, not speaking but giving them all pointed looks, holding their gazes for a moment. The guards were nodding so Rose guessed telepathy was being used between them. Then Circady looked at her and just stared. Rose felt a buzzing in her head and she thought she could hear words in the buzzing. Rose shook her head and shrugged her shoulders since she couldn't open her mouth to speak. Circady had an annoyed look but he turned his attention back to one of his guards who handed him another of the glow balls. He shook it and the ball illuminated. He put it around his neck and nodded at the guards who followed him out of the trench. Once they were out, they turned to the left and began to swim away deeper into the ocean while the Rose alternated thinking up strategies with hoping that the Doctor and her friends would find her.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

"Um…is this a good idea?" Rory said to his wife as they followed Tania into the center of Seashell.

Some of the townspeople had seen them coming in and word spread fast and now there was a crowd dogging their every step as Tania led them to the council house where the elders met. The buildings were simple wooden houses that wouldn't have looked out of place in Elizabethan England. And the people all dressed simply as well. Colorful dresses for the women and mainly white shirts and trousers for the men with leather boots on most of the feet, although Rory noticed a few men were barefoot. Their bathing suits were gawked at and they could hear the townspeople commenting on their near nakedness with scorn and scoffing.

"What's wrong, don't people wear swimsuits here?" Amy finally asked Tania.

"Not like yours," Tania said, glancing over her shoulder. "Women have swimming dresses and the men wear shorter trousers and shirts. No one is as naked as you are when they go into the ocean. When…they went into the ocean," she corrected herself.

"The people here won't lynch us for being nearly naked, will they?" Rory said, glancing nervously at the people who were now making a closed circle around them as they walked.

"No. They might kill you if they think you're spies," Tania said.

"Well, we're not so they can put away their guns if they have them," Amy said.

"They don't have guns…except for the very rich. They'd use swords if they were gonna kill you," Tania said.

"Well, that makes me feel so much better," Amy said, rolling her eyes.

They stopped at the largest building in the village. It was near the center of town, the center of town being occupied by a plaza and a large fountain in the center of it. The fountain had a statue of a man and woman shaking hands in the center of it and a circle of fountains spritzed up around them into a circular pool of water just below. When they turned towards the house, they were shocked to see a large sheet of metal nailed to the front of the house just above the door. The rest of the house was made of dark wood and the suns' light made the metal glow. When Rory asked about the metal, Tania shrugged.

"Metal is rare on our planet, having it is a sign of wealth. So people nail it to their houses to show off how rich they are," she said.

"Rory, remind me to find a planet with lots of cheap diamonds so I can decorate our house with them when we get back to Leadworth," Amy said to Rory.

By now, the crowd filled the plaza and watched while Tania, Amy and Rory walked up to the front door of the council house. There was a knocker on the door, a large seashell with a ring running through the bottom of it. Tania used the knocker and rapped on the door three times before standing back and waiting. The crowd was murmuring to each other behind them and Amy sighed angrily when she caught snippets of conversation about her and her husband being indecent in town.

Finally the door opened and Amy took a step back when she saw an old Asian man. He had snow white hair pulled back in a ponytail and a wizened face. His entire face was also tattooed with complicated swirls and lines. The black ink had faded to blue with time and the weather and he looked odd to Amy, like some old yob who retired and settled down on a different planet. The man was wearing a long white robe and he had a large walking stick in his right hand. His eyes widened a bit when he saw Amy and Rory's clothes but he kept silence about it and stepped outside.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he said to Tania with a slight Japanese accent.

"I am Tania, elder. This is Amy and Rory, they have come to help fix the problem with the ocean."

The man raised his eyebrow and gave Amy and Rory a bemused look as he sized them up.

"Are you warriors?" he said to them.

"Yes," Amy said.

There was more murmuring from the crowd but it ceased when the man held up his free hand.

"You do not look like warriors. You look naked," the man said.

"I am known as The Last Centurion," Rory said. "I have fought people on many worlds with my wife at my side," he added, gesturing to Amy. "But there are more. We have our daughter with us, our best friend and a man who is more than an army when it comes to fighting. We met Tania when we landed by the ocean and she told us about the kidnappings."

There were several gasps from the crowd while the elder glared silently at Tania. Tania shifted uneasily under his angry gaze.

"You are forbidden to go near the ocean. It is the law!" the man said to Tania.

"I stay far enough away from the ocean so I'm not threatened," Tania said. "But listen, I saw something flashing under the water and their friends went to see what it was. They wanted Amy and Rory to come back with me to talk to you."

"Talk to us about what?" the man said, shifting his attention to the Ponds.

"About making peace with the creatures who live in the water," Rory said.

"How do you know what they are?" the man said, his eyes narrowing.

"We don't," Amy said. "But we can guess. Whatever they are, we think they started attacking your people when your fishing boats invaded their territory. Tania said the trouble didn't start until the boats went further out into the ocean, is that right?"

Rory noticed the man hesitated a moment before speaking and seemed uneasy.

"It's true that the kidnappings started when the boats went further out," he finally said. "But that doesn't mean that there is something out there taking our people in revenge. This is just speculation!"

"Perhaps," Amy said. "But I'm willing to be our speculation is bang on. Something out there is unfriendly towards all of you and staying away from the water and pretending it'll go away won't solve anything. Our daughter and our friends want to try to find whatever or whoever it is and see if we can speak to it so we can come to an agreement. That why both your people and theirs can live together in peace. So can we speak to you and the rest of the elders?"

The man thought that over.

"Let them try, elder," a man in the crowd yelled out. "Maybe they can help us."

"Very well, come inside, all of you," he said, nodding at Tania. "We will try to find out what's going on and find a solution. Besides, you need to put some clothes on and quit parading around the town naked."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Amy muttered as she, Rory and Tania followed him inside the house.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Blast!" the Doctor stomped his foot on the bottom of the boat while he and River paddled back to the shore as quickly as they could. "Damn it, I should have gotten back into the raft with Rose before we started talking to Circady. Now she's missing and it's my fault!"

"You do realize playing the blame game isn't helping anyone," River said to him as they paddled.

"I realize that but I just left my mate unprotected when we knew they were taking people. Not to mention Jackie will kill me if she finds out," the Doctor said.

"Well, they had her in some sort of bubble thing so they obviously want her alive," River said. "You were talking about negotiations so maybe they took her as a bargaining chip."

"They better not have or they're going to be very, very sorry," the Doctor said, his eyes blazing with anger.

As they neared the shore, they saw a few people standing near the town scanning the ocean. They saw them and pointed and some of them ran back into the town.

"And we've been spotted," the Doctor said. "Are we gonna get kidnapped by them now?"

"I s'pose we surrender to them and see what happens, sweetie," River replied as the townspeople who didn't run back to town started running towards them.

"Wow, this is turning out to be one hell of a day," the Doctor said, jumping out and dragging the boat up onto the sand.

River got out of the boat and put her hands up when two young men and a woman ran towards them.

"We come in peace," she said to them. "Friends. We come as friends. My parents followed Tania into the town. We want to join them. His mate was kidnapped by the merpeople."

One of the men had a shaved head, brown eyes and a heart-shaped face with a cleft in his chin. The other man was middle aged with short salt and pepper hair and a slightly lined face with a bit of stubble on his angular jaw and dark blue eyes. The woman had long ginger hair that was braided and reached down to her ankles. She had a black eye and she stayed in the back, away from the men. River noticed that her face was haggard and there was a scar running across her forehead. She wondered if the men had been abusing her. The men were wearing white shirts and brown trousers with brown leather boots and the woman was wearing a sea-green dress that went down to her ankles with sleeves that went down to her wrists.

"Merpeople?" the younger man said, drawing closer to the Doctor and River.

"That's right, merpeople," the Doctor said. "That's what you're dealing with. Pissed off merpeople who don't like you fishing in their territory. I suspect that's why they started kidnapping the people in your town, to get revenge. However, we were trying to speak to the prince of the merpeople when they stole my mate and took her under the ocean. Her parents went into town to speak to the elders and we want to do the same. Will you take us without killing us in the process? Please?"

"Maybe we should listen to them," the woman said timidly.

The middle aged man spun around.

"NO ONE ASKED YOU!" he bellowed at her.

"I'm sorry but who are you?" the Doctor said.

"I'm Joshua. This is my father, Prentice and my mother, Adelaide," the young man said.

"Thank you, Joshua. I'm the Doctor, this is River," he said while he walked around Prentice. "Adelaide, can you take us to the elders?"

"You deal with me, Doctor," Prentice said.

The Doctor spun around and Prentice backed up when he saw the hard look on his face.

"No, I don't believe I will," the Doctor growled at him. "You see, I'm guessing from the black eye and long scar across Adelaide's forehead that you like to beat on her. Well, I despise abuse, especially towards a woman and I don't like dealing with people who try to bully others and treat them like rubbish just so they can feel more empowered. I am speaking to Adelaide and you will allow me to do that because, Prentice, I could do to you what you do to your wife and I have a feeling you won't like that."

Prentice glowered at the Doctor but he could tell the Doctor meant business so he stepped back towards his son and stood with him while the Doctor turned back to Adelaide.

"Can you take us to the council house?" he said gently. "No, don't look at your husband, look at me. Can you take us, Adelaide? You can answer truthfully, I will protect you."

"Yes, I can take you,"Adelaide said softly.

"Will you? We only want to help stop the kidnappings and bring peace to your town."

Adelaide nodded. She glanced at her husband and noticed he was livid but she looked back at the Doctor and like her husband, she could tell he meant what he said about protecting her. He beckoned to the Doctor and River and River got between the two men and the Doctor, keeping tabs on them while Adelaide led them back to the town.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

It had been about thirty minutes since Circady led his men and their hostage away from the trench and out further into the ocean but Rose had been impressed by their speed. They went a lot faster than she expected and she was glad she was floating in the bubble instead of being dragged by her arms after them. They were still near the bottom of the ocean and the water was still dark with only the meager illumination from the glow balls to light their way. But the mermen swam without hesitation and Rose guessed they either had night vision or knew the way so well that they needed no light to guide them. But suddenly, the guards shifted the position of their bodies and pushed down on the top of the bubble and Rose felt herself going down into another trench with Circady following after them.

For several minutes, Rose couldn't see anything around her and then suddenly the sides were being lit by embedded glow balls and she could see the uneven rocky surface of the trench. Then she saw a light below her that grew larger and larger the closer they got. Rose looked up at the guards and knew that even if the Doctor could find a way down this far that he'd have to have some sort of protection against the extreme pressure. She wondered if the TARDIS could come down here but even so, the Doctor and her friends would still have to have a source of protection outside her doors.

The light grew and she could see the opening of the trench below her. Then they swam out of it into a lower part of the ocean and off to her left, Rose saw a city. But unlike the little mermaid, it didn't look like Greek architecture or even made out of organic substances like coral. The buildings were made of glass and metal and looked almost space age in its design. The buildings were lit by large glow balls, inside the windows as well as gigantic glow balls on the top of the buildings. Looking at it, she guessed the city was about a mile wide but from her vantage point she wasn't sure how far back the city stretched. There were several merpeople coming in and out of the city and a few of them paused to look at her. Rose waved to them but the merpeople gave her a look of contempt and went on their way. Rose looked back behind her and could see the ocean stretching out under the seabed, almost like a mirror image of the ocean above, except the seabed here was closer than it was above the trench.

The guards swam into town and Rose could see something similar to streets and alleys in between the buildings. But unlike the Little Mermaid, she could see no dolphin chariots or merpeople riding sea life. Everyone was swimming and several people stopped swimming and bowed their heads in respect to Circady as they passed. They swam through the watery passageways until they finally reached a huge building that was decorated with glittering gems all over its metal surface. Rose thought the gems might be diamonds and rubies and emeralds and sapphires but she was on a different planet so perhaps they only resembled Earth gems. She admired the view and the way the glow lights made the gems sparkle. There were several windows in the front along with a large arched doorway. The doorway was open but there were several guards around it. The guards put their fists to their chests and bowed their heads as they swam through the doorway. Inside was a large room and more gems decorated the walls but there seemed to be no furniture and no steps or stairs, although Rose figured they just swam anywhere they wanted to go inside the building. There was another arched opening at the back of the room and they went through it. Each room seemed to be bare except for the gem studded walls. But when they got to the heart of the building, they entered into an enormous room and Rose finally saw some sort of metal dais near the back of it. A merman and woman were reclining on it, giving them a bored look when they entered. The man and woman were wearing gem necklaces and gold bands around their foreheads with gems encrusted in them so Rose guessed they were the king and queen. Beside them was the only other furniture in the room, a series of metal capsules that looked like giant pills that were resting on their ends. The capsules had no windows in them and Rose counted ten of them, arranged neatly side by side along the left wall. Suspended above them was a large glow ball that was hanging down from the ceiling, supported by metal chains bolted into the metal ceiling. The guards lowered the ball to the floor in front of the dais and to Rose's surprise, it stuck there.

She watched while Circady swam up to the people on the dais while the guards swam just above her and kept watch over her. She could sense static electricity buzzing through the water and she wondered if that was what was holding the bubble to the floor. Circady swam up to the floor and prostrated himself on it until the king or queen must have said something to him telepathically because he rose up and stared at them. The staring continued but Circady kept pointing back to her which confirmed Rose's theory of telepathic communication. Then Circady turned to the guards and one of them left the room. He returned a few minutes later, holding a silver band similar to the ones around the king and queen's heads. The band was unadorned though. But the moment the guard returned with it, the bubble suddenly dissolved and the other two guards seized Rose's arms and forced her towards the dais. Rose struggled to get out of their grip but it was useless. Circady grabbed her head and held it still while the other guard put the silver band around her forehead. Then everyone let go of her, although the guards stayed nearby while Circady swam to the dais.

Who are you?

Rose blinked when he heard a male voice in her mind.

Human child, a female voice said in her mind. Think to us, we have made telepathy possible. Answer my husband's question, who are you?

Rose, my name is Rose, Rose thought, hoping they could hear her.

Rose, I am King Corlianus and this is my wife, Queen Davina. My son says that another human with you tried to negotiate peace between the merpeople and the humans, is this true?

Yes, Rose thought to him. We mean you no harm, we want to help bring peace and stop the kidnappings. Why are you taking the people of Seashell?

If you mean the humans that live near the ocean, Davina thought to her. We take them because they have taken some of our people.

They took our people first, Circady thought angrily. So we take theirs and convert them to replace the ones they took.

Rose wondered if Tania knew about that or if the merpeople were lying about the townspeople kidnapping the merpeople.

The ocean is my realm, Corlianus said, rising up off the dais. It has been so since time began and we are the rightful owners here. If the humans wish to remain, they must obey my rule and do as I say! I am king, part of a long line of merpeople who were here long before the humans came. This is our world and the ocean is our hunting grounds, not theirs!

I'm sorry they invaded your territory, Rose thought to him. But surely you and the humans can live peacefully?

As long as they accept my rule, Corlianus thought back.

I doubt they'll accept that, Rose thought.

Then there is no peace between us. We will continue to take and convert their people and make them our own. Including you.

Rose's heart raced at that. She kicked her legs, trying to swim away but the guards seized her.

Put her in the conversion chamber, Corlianus said, pointing to the capsule nearest the dais. She will become one of us and then she will help make the humans see reason.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

When Rose was put into the chamber and the door was shut, there was complete and utter darkness like there was out beyond the artificial light of the city. She had been left to float in the water inside the container but then she felt it whooshing out beneath her feet and the water rapidly drained out. She put her feet on the floor of the capsule and opened her mouth as the water drained past her mouth. But then the water stopped draining when it got past her neck and she was left to stand in the water.

"Whatever you're going to do to me, you better not do it because you'll be sorry when my mate gets here!" Rose yelled out.

Then suddenly the floor of the capsule lit up with a bright light, so bright Rose couldn't look at it as the water glowed brightly. Then there was a hum and a burst of electricity pulsed through the water, going up her legs and body and back down again and then back up in an agonizing rhythm. Rose was glad they lowered the water past her mouth because she screamed out in agony, her screams echoing off the metal around her. She tried to get away from the shocks but somehow she'd been immobilized. She screamed louder when she felt her legs being forced together and merging into each other. The pain was so intense that Rose managed to scream out the Doctor's name once before she slipped into a merciful blackness and knew nothing more.

XOXOXOXOXOXO

Amy and Rory stood before a long wooden table in the center of a large room. Behind them were several long wooden benches. The townspeople sat on them while the elders sat at the table. The Asian man, who introduced himself as Zan, was sitting with five others. All of them were elderly, two Caucasians, a black man, an Indian man, a black woman and Zan. Zan was sitting at the middle of the table while the two Caucasian men and the black man sat to his right and the Indian and woman sat to his left. Rory and Amy explained the situation to the townspeople while Tania sat on the bench directly behind them.

"Are you from one of the sister planets in this galaxy?" Zan asked when they finished speaking.

"No," Amy said, "we're from Earth."

She could tell from their confused looks that none of them knew where that was.

"Trust us," Rory said, "it's very far away from here."

"And you wish to help us?" the elderly woman said.

"Yes. We have a daughter here with us called River and two good friends, the Doctor and Rose."

"And your daughter and your friends are willing to risk their lives to help us?" the elderly black man said. "It is foolish to go on the ocean now since some of our townspeople have been taken."

"But we've handled threats like this before," Rory said. "And we accept that risk if we can solve the mystery of the kidnappings."

The elders leaned in and conferred quietly among themselves while some of the townspeople whispered to each other. Then the back door swung open and Adelaide entered with the Doctor and River.

"Ah, the meeting has started," the Doctor said as they walked up to the Ponds.

"Where's Rose?" Amy said.

"She was taken," River said, sparking off more whispering from the townspeople.

"Who are you?" Zan asked.

"I am the Doctor and this is River."

"The ones who were out on the ocean?" the Indian man asked.

"Yes. We met someone. His name is Circady and he's a merman," the Doctor said. "He's been taking your people because you have been disturbing the merpeople's hunting grounds. They live in a place called Sheshandalla and we're trying to get them to come and speak with you. But they'll only agree to negotiation if you go to them."

"Merpeople?" Zan said. "That's a myth."

"No, there are such things. I saw Circady with my own eyes," the Doctor said. "Your fishing boats encroached on their territory when you went out further to sea and they've been taking the townspeople of Seashell in retaliation."

"Then we should kill them!" a woman yelled out behind them.

The Doctor turned to face the audience.

"Oh yes," he said dryly, "and that would just solve everything immediately. Kill them and they'll kill you and you kill them and they'll kill you and on and on it goes until no one remains."

He looked at the audience, his eyes challenging them to say something and he turned back to the council when no one spoke up.

"My mate has been taken by Circady," the Doctor said. "He pulled her under the water and took her away from us."

"Then she is drowned?" the elderly black man said.

"I don't think so. She was encased in some sort of bubble the acted as protection. She was alive and I think it's because they're holding her hostage so we'll negotiate with them on their own terms. If Rose, my mate, is alive then I'm willing to be your people are as well."

There were more whispers from the townspeople. Zen silenced them with a raising of his hand.

"Do you have a way to contact this…Circady," Zen asked the Doctor.

"Not yet. But I have an idea that might work," the Doctor said. "If he did take Rose as a hostage, I'm sure he'll return soon. And when he does, we need to talk with him first before anyone tries to kill him. He is a prince and if you kill a royal, I guarantee there would be war between your people and theirs."

The Doctor was studying the council while he spoke, gauging their reactions, and he noticed a lack of surprise among the council when he told them there were merpeople off their shores. He wondered if they already knew about their existence and if so, how much did they know. He guessed Zen was the head of the council and he made a mental note to try to talk to him privately and find out the truth.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

When Rose finally regained consciousness, she felt a heavy weight around her neck, something that felt constricting. She reached up and felt a large iron collar. She sat up and gasped when she saw herself. She was out of the capsule and had been stripped of her swimsuit. But what really disturbed her was her lower half was now the lower half of a fish. From her waist down there was a beautiful purple fish tail with iridescent scales that shimmered from the glow ball suspended above her. She reached up to her face and noticed the breathing tube was gone but she was breathing without trouble even though she was underwater. Her hand went up higher and the metal band was off her head. She looked around and noticed a long chain was snaking out the back of the collar into the metal wall beside her. She grabbed it and tugged on it four times but the chain didn't give and she sighed angrily. She studied her fish body, running her hands down it. The fins at the end of it were a slightly darker purple than the body and seemed very delicate but when she got onto her belly and tried moving it, the fins moved easily through the water and she went up as far as the collar let her and then she allowed the back of her body to drop so she was basically standing up just above the metal floor. The room she was in was small with one doorway that had no door. She was chained up and she couldn't reach the doorway so she just looked around at her prison.

The walls were all smooth without any imperfections. The only other thing in the room was the glow ball suspended from the ceiling by chains similar to the one holding her at bay. She felt her forehead again. She figured now she could communicate telepathically without the headband and she wondered if she could reach the Doctor. Her lover had telepathic capabilities and the TARDIS link she shared with him gave her a small taste of that ability but it was more a sensing of his nearness rather than being able to have a conversation with him. She decided to try though and she closed her eyes and concentrated, calling to him in her mind in the hopes he would hear her.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Meanwhile, the Doctor and his friends had been escorted to a bedroom on the first floor of the council house. The room was small with a couple of simple wooden beds on either side of a large window. The window had shutters for protection, rather than window glass so with the shutters open, a light breeze blew into the room bringing with it the smell of the salty ocean. Amy and Rory sat down on one bed while the Doctor and River sat down on the other.

"So now what?" Amy said.

"I think the elders know more than they're letting on," the Doctor said. "I think they knew about the existence of the merpeople before we said anything and I want to talk to Zan and learn just how much they know. But for the moment let's hope they're agreeing to help us and…"

He trailed off and an odd look came over his face.

"Doctor?" Amy said. "What's wrong?"

"Rose. I think I hear Rose," the Doctor said to them.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"Where?" River said as she, Rory and Amy looked around the room.

"Not out here, in my head," the Doctor said, tapping his temple. "I can hear her calling to me."

"How?" Amy said with a frown.

The Doctor held up his finger, signaling them to wait. He closed his eyes and relaxed while everyone watched. He could hear Rose but her voice was very, very faint, almost a whisper. But it was there, not his imagination. He called back to her and Rose fell silent for a moment before calling to him again.

I'm here, my love, where are you? He thought to her.

Um…under the ocean somewhere, Rose thought back.

Her voice was very faint and the Doctor had to strain to hear it.

Doctor, they turned me into a mermaid.

So, that explains the telepathy then, the Doctor said, trying to keep his anger at that statement from flooding his mind and distracting them.

Doctor, they said that the townspeople took some merpeople and Circady said they've been taking the townspeople to replace the ones they took.

And you, are you a replacement as well?

I don't know, they chained me to a wall and left me here.

Again, the Doctor had to take a deep breath, trying to keep calm.

Tell Circady to meet with me and see what he says, he thought to Rose. I will ask the elders about taking some of the merpeople. I thought they weren't being entirely truthful. Keep in contact and let me know if they say anything more and keep calm; don't do anything to make them angry. We'll come for you, I promise.

I know you will. Be careful, Rose thought to him.

I will. You do the same and find out all you can and contact me if you learn anything new.

The Doctor cut off the conversation between them and told his friends what he learned.

"So now we make them even angrier by accusing them of stealing merpeople," Rory said when he finished speaking.

"I don't care. If they're the cause of all this, we have to sort it out before the two groups go to war," the Doctor said. "I thought something like this must have happened. I asked Rose to try to get more information but I have a feeling they might have tried to talk to the fishermen before all this happened and got captured. Or one got tangled in their net and they kept them as a prize."

"What about Rose?" River said, "can we change her back?"

"They better have a way to change her back and they better meet with me or I'll affix a hose to the TARDIS and have her drain the entire ocean to get to them."

"There's an image," Rory said. "Just as long as you don't drain the water into our room."

"Nah, I would make my own ocean somewhere near the back," the Doctor said with a grin. "But in all seriousness, if they think they're gonna keep Rose with them forevermore, they better think twice because they don't want me as an enemy."

"I love it when you talk tough and get all macho," River said, ruffling his hair. "Especially since you look so cute doing it."

Amy and Rory chuckled when the Doctor blushed at that. He got up from the bed, walked over to the door and opened it. He expected a burly guard to be watching over the door but to his surprise, there was a tiny midget man about three feet in height. He was dressed in black trousers and a red tunic with a seashell patch on it. His long brown hair was tied back in a ponytail and he was standing with his back to the door, arms crossed over his chest. He cleared his throat and the midget spun around.

"LEAVING IS FORBIDDEN!" he bellowed at him in a high-pitched voice.

The Doctor's friends, who were standing right behind him while watching, giggled at the shocked look on the Doctor's face. The little guard folded his arms back over his chest and gave the Doctor his most menacing look.

"Um…okay," the Doctor said. "I'm the Doctor and you are…"

"MONGO!" the man bellowed.

The Doctor looked back at his friends with a bemused look on his face while Mongo scowled at him. The Doctor turned his attention back to Mongo.

"So, Mongo," he said, trying to be friendly towards the belligerent little man. "I have to use the loo. Can I…"

He took a step outside the door.

"IT IS FORBIDDEN!" Mongo screamed at him.

His companions laughed when the Doctor quickly stuck his foot back in the room.

"Right. Could you not scream at me, mate? I'm not deaf," the Doctor said. "We're trying to be friends with you."

"Mongo has no need of friends," Mongo said in a normal tone of voice but with a terse edge to it. "Mongo guards the door and it is forbidden to come outside."

"Right. But you see, I need to go to the toilet. My only other option is to stick my penis out the window and pee on people's heads and I really don't wanna do that since I think the people of Seashell will frown on it. So…can you make an exception? I won't run, promise."

He could tell Mongo was thinking that over and he tried another tentative foot out the door. Mongo scowled at the foot but the Doctor boldly stepped outside the room.

"I want to be friends with you," he said to him. "Will you let me be friends…"

He gasped in pain when Mongo punched him in the genitals. He let out a groan and collapsed to the floor, holding his crotch as his face turned red.

"Hey! He wasn't doing anything!" Amy yelled at Mongo while River and Rory went outside and grabbed the Doctor under the arms.

"IT IS FORBIDDEN!" Mongo yelled at her.

"Forget it, Pond, it is forbidden!" the Doctor gasped out while Rory and River helped him to stand.

Mongo watched smugly while River and Rory helped the Doctor walk back into the room. River gritted her teeth when Mongo grabbed the door handle and slammed the door shut the moment they were inside.

"Oh that hurt so much!" the Doctor groaned as Rory and River helped him sit down on the bed. "And he was just the right height to go for my John Thomas too. I don't think I'll be doing that again."

"Permission to go out there, wad him out and bounce him around the house like a basketball?" River asked him as the Doctor lay down on the bed.

"No, I have a feeling he has a growth spurt button somewhere and he'd grow to giant height and make you the basketball. Just…leave him be for the moment. We'll think of something else."

Rory, River and Amy sat down on the other bed while the Doctor recovered from the blow to his genitals. Twenty minutes later, the door opened and River had to fight to keep still when Mongo came into the room.

"Elder Zan wishes to see you now. You will follow me!" he said to them. "And no tricks!"

"Because if you try a trick, your bollocks get punched up into your skull," the Doctor said as he sat up.

River helped him to stand and he leaned on her for support as everyone followed Mongo out of the room.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Rose settled down onto the floor of her prison and rested for awhile. When no one came for her, she started practicing swimming around, trying out her new mode of mobility, albeit in a restricted area since she still had the collar around her neck. She was clumsy and uncoordinated at first but now she was getting the hang of her new fish body and it pleased her since she was still planning to escape at some point. She had made contact with the Doctor. It upset her that she could barely hear him which meant that she probably was as far out as the fishing ship they saw. But she managed to give him some information and she hoped he could put it to good use.

She sat up right and looked at her fish body. She loved the way the scaled shimmered in the light but she noticed something. The royal family had the same iridescence to their scales but the guards and most of the merpeople she saw didn't. She wondered if that was a sign of their royal status. Then suddenly, it hit her like a ton of bricks. If she had been given the same iridescence as the royal family, did that mean…

Circady better not be planning to make me his mate, she thought to herself. He's already in hot water for changing me into this. He doesn't want to make the Doctor angrier than he already is.

She silenced her thoughts when Queen Davina swam by the doorway. She stopped and entered the room.

I'm sorry, she thought to Rose.

For what? Rose thought back.

My husband and son are being irrational, the queen said, settling down next to her. They take people, thinking that will make things right but it only makes us like the surface people. I came here of my own volition, you didn't.

How'd ya mean? Rose thought.

I was once human like you were. But I was never satisfied with my life. Then I met my husband, Corlianus, while swimming in the ocean. I was kind to him so he kept coming back to see me and I fell in love with him and in time I agreed to leave behind my human existence and live with him here in Sheshandalla. Our lives here were peaceful until the humans stole some of our people, including my son's fiancée.

And I'm meant to replace him, Rose thought. That's why I have the shimmering fish scales that you have.

Davina raised her eyesbrows.

You are very perceptive, child, she thought to her. Yes, you are meant to replace his fiancée.

But wait, I have friends that could rescue her. If she's in Seashell, they can find her and the others, Rose thought. And besides, I'm already married. The man that was with me, that tried to talk to your son, he's my lives mate. I don't want another husband.

I am on your side, Rose, Davina thought to her. I don't have as much power as my husband but I can influence him to set you free, if you promise you won't escape.

But if you let me go, I can help, Rose thought desperately. I can help my mate find your people and bring them back safely. I can do anything here to save them. I'm useless unless you lot trust me. Just give me time to try to find them. If we can't find them within twenty four hours, I'll come back willingly and remain here forever. Please? Do this for me?

Davina swam around in a circle for a moment while she thought that over. Then she told Rose to wait and she swam out of the room. Rose settled back down to wait for her. Twenty minutes later, Davina returned with Circady and Corlianus.

We accept your offer to find my son's fiancée and the others, Corlianus thought to her. However, I want my son to go with you.

Rose nodded. Corlianus held up a key and unlocked her collar. Rose sighed as the heavy collar slipped off her neck and she mentally thanked him. Then Davina handed her a small gold casket.

These contain two pills that will split your fish body so you will regain legs, Davina thought while she pointed to the casket. But, you will not have human legs. Your fins will form into feet but from the waist down you will still have the purple color of your fish body. Circady will do the same. The pills will last twenty four hours. After that, your bodies will become whole and you must return to the ocean or die.

That way we can be assured you will keep your promise to return to us in one day, Corlianus thought.

Rose nodded. She didn't like the idea of keeping the mermaid body but this was her best chance to find the other merpeople and return to her lover and her friends so she accepted it. She watched while Circady's parents hugged him and wished him luck. Circady nodded to Rose and mentally told her to follow him. Corlianus was watching Rose warily but Davina gave her a warm smile and nodded at her while she followed Circady out of the room.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The Doctor was thankful that this time they would be allowed to sit at a small table in front of the elders since his crotch was still aching from Mongo's punch. The little guard stood beside the table, all business, as the council came into the room. The few people that remained to watch stood and bowed respectfully. The Doctor felt a tap on his shoulder and looked over it at Tania.

"Are you alright, you look like you're in pain," Tania said softly as the elders sat down in their seats.

"Apart from getting punched in the genitals by an angry jobsworth dwarf, I'm fine and dandy," the Doctor said to her.

He eyed Amy when she let out a quick snicker before stifling it with a hand over her mouth.

"Would you like a brolly up your vagina, Amy? Because I'm sure that would approximate the pain I just went through," the Doctor said to her.

"Sorry," Amy said.

Zan started speaking to them but almost as soon as he opened his mouth, the Doctor suddenly heard Rose calling to him and he focused her attention on her. He was so engrossed in his communication with her that he didn't realize Zan was speaking to him until River gave his shoulder a hard shove.

"What?" he said, blinking in shock as he was jolted back to the situation in front of him.

"Your friends are accusing us of taking merpeople and causing these kidnappings. Is this true, these accusations?"

"Yes. But…could you adjourn this meeting for about a half hour?" the Doctor said.

Everyone looked at him.

"Why?" River said.

"Something's just come up. Actually, could you give us till this evening? Perhaps after supper?"

Zan gave him a wary look.

"Why?" he said.

"I may have a solution to the kidnappings and I want a few hours to try to see if my solution works."

The Doctor's companions glanced at each other, wondering what he meant but the Doctor ignored them, keeping his attention focused on the council members. The council conferred amongst themselves for a moment before Zan nodded.

"Very well, we will adjourn until 7 pm," he said to them. "I hope you have a good excuse for this delay."

"Oh believe me, I have a very good excuse," the Doctor said before he rose from his chair.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The Doctor didn't tell his friends what was going on even though they were asking for an explanation since he left the council house. Instead, he led them down to the seashore before he finally told them what was going on.

"So Rose is somewhere in the water?" River said when he finished his explanation.

The Doctor held up his finger and closed his eyes. The others looked up to sea in search of Rose but Amy sensed someone behind them and she turned to see Tania was about thirty feet behind them.

"What's going on?" Tania said as she came towards them. "You left suddenly and everyone in town is wondering what you're doing."

"Our friend is returning to us," Rory said.

"As a mermaid," Amy added.

"And a merman is with her," River said.

Tania froze and stared at her.

"Merpeople are coming here?" she said.

"Yes. Because we want to find out the truth about this whole situation," Rory said. "We want to know if your people really have taken merpeople hostage."

"Why would they do that?" Tania said.

"Why? They're merpeople," Amy said. "I'm sure the fishermen thought they might fetch them some extra money and maybe your town could put them on display and charge money for them."

Tania considered that for a moment and shrugged.

"I've never seen any merpeople," she said.

"That doesn't mean they don't have them," River said. "They could have them stored somewhere, maybe getting ready to sell them offworld. But whatever's going on, it needs to be sorted out before everyone suffers."

"Look!" Rory said, pointing out to sea while the Doctor opened his eyes and smiled.

Tania came up beside River and her eyes bulged when she saw two heads come up above the water about forty feet from shore. The Doctor ran into the surf, heading for Rose while she swam towards him. Circady held back, watching everyone warily while the Doctor swam to Rose and embraced her.

"Rose Tyler, you're more trouble than you're worth," the Doctor teased as he held her close.

"I know, but I keep things interesting for ya," Rose said.

He grinned and kissed her lips.

"So these pills you mentioned will give you pseudo legs for one day?" he said.

"Yeah, that was the only way I could come back was to offer myself if we don't find the others," Rose said.

"Well, we better hop to it then," the Doctor said, laying his hand on her cheek.

Rose told him to get behind her and hold on to her back. The Doctor did and gasped when Rose zoomed towards shore.

"Wow, this is brilliant!" the Doctor said. "At least some good came out of your becoming a mermaid."

Rose stopped five feet from the shore. The Doctor stood up and picked her up in his arms. He stared at her fish tail, the purple scales shimmering in the lights of the suns.

"Wow, the color suits you, Rose," he said as he carried her to the others. "You are beautiful this way, I have to say."

Rose watched while her friends gathered around, admiring her fish tail. The Doctor asked about the casket when he noticed her hands were empty. When she told him Circady had it, he looked over at Circady and noticed he was slowly making his way to shore, the wary look still on his face. The Doctor told everyone to go up further onto the sand and he carried Rose towards Tania who was standing by the overhang, watching with awe as Rose lay in the Doctor's arms and flicked her fins lazily. Rory grabbed the beach blanket that had been left near the TARDIS and laid it out before the Doctor laid Rose on top of it. Rose lay on her stomach while the Doctor went back to help Circady. Tania came over to the blanket and Rose smiled at her.

"Did it hurt?" Tania said to her.

"Yes. But it doesn't hurt now," Rose said.

The Doctor picked Circady up and carried him over to the blanket. He scowled at Tania when she tried to come near to him and she backed up.

"Now, now, she won't hurt you," the Doctor said to Circady when he noticed the scowl on his face. "So…open the casket and do what you need to do."

Circady had the gold casket in his hand. He opened it and took out a small forest green pill. He gave one to Rose and she examined it for a moment before she put it in her mouth and swallowed it. Circady did the same and everyone waited for something to happen but a minute went by and they were still the same as before.

"Maybe it takes time for the pill to take effect," River said with a shrug. "She just swallowed it so the pill needs to dissolve."

"I just hope it isn't as painful as being in that conversion chamber," Rose said as the Doctor sat down on the sand beside her.

Rose folded her arms in front of her, to prop herself up and to hide her bare breasts from everyone. Beside her, Circady lay there, looking around while the wind blew through his hair. The Doctor stroked her back while he watched the sunlight on her scales.

You're beautiful this way, he thought to her. Too bad we can't keep you this way and just figure out a way for you to transform from a mermaid to a human and back. This fish body could prove quite useful at times.

I'll just be glad to get my human body back, thanks, Rose thought while she flicked her tail lazily. But I do love the purple color and the way the sun flashes on my scales. I can see why the myths say that mermaids are exceedingly vain. I would be the same way if I was born with this body. I…

Her communication was cut off when a stab of pain shot through the lower half of her body.

"It's happening," Rose groaned while Circady moaned beside her.

The Doctor picked up the upper half of her body, holding his lives mate while she groaned in pain. The others came to her and watched with revulsion while her fish body split down the middle.

"Oh my God, it's just like the scene in the Little Mermaid when Ariel got her legs," Amy said.

The Doctor bent over his mate, holding her to him while the halves began to form into a semblance of human legs. The same was happening to Circady but when they tried to comfort him, he yelled at them to get back so they ignored him and tried to comfort Rose. Rose was breathing heavily, trying to get through the pain of the transformation. The Doctor knew from Rose's conversation that the legs wouldn't be completely human but he was fascinated by the legs when he noticed that the outline of the scales stayed even though the scales formed into flesh. To him, it looked like someone had tattooed scales onto the lower half of her body. The shimmer also seemed to stay, making her skin look unearthly.

Then the pain stopped at last and Rose let out a sigh of relief as the Doctor kissed the top of her head. She looked back and looked at her body, moving her legs experimentally.

"Looks like someone threw paint on the lower half of my body and tattooed fish scales onto it," Rose said, running her hand down her right leg.

Circady was also finished. His legs were also slender, his body blue with the fish scales embedded in his skin. He was horrified and he twisted his body around clumsily, trying to sit up to see his new limbs. River walked over and helped him and this time Circady didn't protest since he was in complete shock over his transformation. The Doctor helped Rose to stand up and she tested her feet before the Doctor let go. But when River helped Circady stand, he was frightened and unsure what to do with the strange appendages he'd been given. River and Amy got on either side of him and instructed him what to do.

Rose kept her hands over her breasts while she walked around. She was going to cover her genital area when she realized that the transformation didn't give her any genitals. She had no pubic hair or hair of any kind on her legs.

"How do I go to the loo in the next twenty four hours?" Rose asked as she pointed to her groin area. "I hope they don't expect me to hold it in."

"Maybe you don't…urinate in that way," the Doctor said. "You didn't have any openings when you had the fish body."

"Just as long as I can go to the loo, I'll be happy," Rose said.

"Well, I s'pose first thing we should do is get you and him dressed. Especially since they accused us of being naked before. In point of fact, we should all get dressed and get the gear back in the TARDIS. I don't think we're going on holiday now, at least not till we get this sorted out."

Everyone except River picked up the equipment they left by the TARDIS. River walked with Circady around the beach while the Doctor opened the TARDIS door and they took everything inside it.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Once Tania and Circady got over the shock of seeing the TARDIS, the Doctor left his companions with them while he ran back to the wardrobe room. He returned carrying a small cardboard box and called Rose and Circady to him. When they walked over, he handed Rose a white dress that was ankle length along with a part of white plimsols and some white socks.

"I think that'll hide your legs," the Doctor said to Rose. "And for you…I chose a long robe since you're not used to clothes."

Circady frowned and looked at the white robe the Doctor handed him. The Doctor helped him put it on and Circady pulled at it, uncomfortable now that he had something covering his body. The Doctor had a pair of leather sandals and tried to get Circady to wear them but he refused and the Doctor finally gave up, thankful he at least got the merman to wear the robe. He hoped whoever saw Circady's blue feet would think it was some kind of foot covering.

They went outside and the Doctor closed the door. Tania walked around the box and touched the sides of it.

"How does this work? How did you fit all that inside here?" she asked the Doctor.

"Oh, I have many tricks up my sleeve," the Doctor said with an impish smile. "Now come with me and we'll go back to the council house. We have one day and then Rose and Circady go back to the ocean for good."

He put his arm around Rose while they walked back up to the town. Amy walked beside Circady while Rory walked with her and River walked behind them. Amy noticed that Circady looked uneasy as they approached the town.

"It'll be alright, we won't let anyone hurt you," Amy said to Circady.

"These humans have hurt my people and invaded our territory and you want to trust them?" Circady said to her.

"We don't have to trust them but we need to find out what happened to your fiancée and everyone else," Amy said.

"And what if they're all dead, what then?" Circady said.

"Then we'll find a solution that's for everyone's benefit," Amy said. "You can't take Rose as your wife, she's already married to him," she said, pointing to the Doctor.

"Then I will fight him to the death for her," Circady said.

The Doctor looked over his shoulder at Circady, his eyes flashing him a warning look. Circady smirked at that and shrugged.

"Your mate agreed to come back with me after today," he said.

"That's if we find your fiancée and your people and we haven't begun to look yet. So don't plan your battle strategy just yet," the Doctor said tersely. "What is your fiancée's name?"

"Lalura."

"Then we'll make them tell us what happened to Lalura and the others," the Doctor said to him. "But until the twenty four hours is up, Rose is with me so don't think of spiriting her away and hiding her somewhere. You might think I'm a pushover but trust me, I'm more than a match for you in battle."

Circady snorted at that but said nothing more as they neared the town. By now, several townspeople spotted them and were running to tell the elders. By the time they got to the council house, Zan was outside the front door, waiting for them. The Doctor introduced Rose and Circady before revealing that Circady was a merman. Zan was taken aback by that and didn't believe him until Circady showed him his feet.

"And Rose is now a mermaid as well. She was transformed by the king into one of them so she would be Circady's fiancée. You see, Circady's fiancée was taken by the fishermen along with nine others and Circady claims you have them."

He studied Zan's expression. There was surprise on his face but the Doctor thought it looked unrealistic. But he kept that thought to himself while Zan recovered from his real or feigned shock.

"What about the people you took from us?" Zan said to Circady. "Did you turn them into merpeople like you did to her?" he said, pointing to Rose.

"Yes. We took them and changed them to replace the missing people," Circady said defiantly. "What did you do with our people?"

"We didn't take your people," Zan snarled at him.

"Whoa, wait!" Rory said, stepping between them when he noticed people were beginning to stop and watch the heated exchange. "Can we go inside and have it out there?"

Zan noticed the townspeople gathering and nodded.

"Follow me," he said, opening the door.

They went inside and walked back to the meeting room. Now the room was empty and Zan directed everyone to sit at the larger table while he stood in front of it. The Doctor took Zan's seat while everyone sat down around him. He folded his hands on the table and waited for Zan to speak.

"Why do you think we have your people?" Zan said to Circady in a much calmer tone of voice.

"Because once our people went missing, we posted spies and they watched the fishing boats. They put their nets into the water and pull up fish by the hundreds. Fish we eat as well. We thought that was all they were doing until one of our people tried to cut the nets and he was trapped by a second net that pulled him up. We watched the humans pull him into the boat but they didn't let him go, they just left in a hurry. When our spies reported back to us, that's when we knew what happened to the others. So where are they?"

"I have no idea," Zan said. "I don't control the activities of the fishermen unless they bring something to the attention of the council. If they took your people, they didn't tell us about it."

The Doctor studied his face and this time he could tell he was telling the truth.

"Do you know the names of the people who fish the waters?" the Doctor said.

"I do. There are thirty five of them though. They use three boats," Zan said.

"And are there any among the thirty five who would do something like the thing Circady is describing?" the Doctor asked him.

Zan paced back and forth for a moment while he ran the names of the thirty five people through his head. Then suddenly he stopped and the Doctor raised his eyebrow when he looked at him.

"There may be one man who could have done something like this," Zan said.

"And that one man is called…"

"His name is Furnish. He's young, about twenty five, I believe. But he's not popular with the other fishermen and he's very greedy."

"That doesn't necessarily mean he kidnapped the merpeople," River said.

"No. But Jean, the elder woman, was at market the other day and saw Furnish there. She told me he was boasting to other people that he was going to be rich because he had a great treasure in his possession but she said when people asked him about it, he wouldn't say anything further."

"And do you know where Furnish lives?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes. Near the outskirts of town. I'll give you his address and you can go and speak to him. I don't know if he'll tell you what this treasure is though. He wouldn't tell the others in the market what it was."

"Don't worry, I'm very good at getting people to talk to me," the Doctor said.

Zan nodded. He told them to wait and he hurried out of the room. He came back five minutes later holding a slip of paper in his hand. He gave it to the Doctor and told him that was Furnish's address and directions to his house. He wished them all luck and watched while they got up and left the room.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Tania led the strange group of people through the town. The Doctor gave her the directions to Furnish's house, asking her if she knew where he lived. Tania studied the directions and nodded, much to the Doctor's relief. So now everyone was following her while she led them to a house near the back of the town. Amy walked beside Circady and River was on the other side of him, both women guarding him in case he bothered Rose. They were at the back of the group while Rose walked beside her lives mate. Amy glanced at Circady and noticed he was watching Rose intently while she completely ignored him.

"You're not taking her from us, you know," Amy said.

"What?" Circady said, finally turning his attention away from Rose.

"Rose isn't yours," Amy said. "Even if we don't find your fiancée, no one will let you have her."

"She agreed to our bargain. If we don't find any trace of my fiancée, she must return with me and live out her life among my people."

"Not if I can help it," the Doctor said, glancing back over his shoulder at Circady.

"Then you will join her in her fate or die," Circady said.

He ignored the dirty looks from Rose's friends while Rose kept her attention fixed on Tania. Circady narrowed his eyes at the Doctor when the Doctor smirked at him.

"You will not be so confident with a spear in your chest, human," Circady said to him.

"Alright, stop!" Rory said, turning around and holding up his hands. "Stop the whole macho, you'll never take Rose away from me, oh yes I will rubbish."

"Rose made an agreement," Circady said when everyone stopped and looked at him.

"And we agreed to help find Lalura and that's what we're doing," the Doctor said. "And until we know she's well and truly gone, I'll ask you to keep your gob shut and quit threatening me, threatening my friends and threatening my lives mate. From all the bravado and talk of taking her from us, it sounds like you care nothing for your fiancée and everything for Rose."

Circady said nothing in reply but the Doctor sensed he just hit the nail on the head. He wondered if Lalura's marriage to him had been arranged and he preferred Rose over her betrothed. He said nothing though, wanting to try to defuse the situation before it got out of control.

"Look, do you want us to help you or not?" the Doctor said.

"You have no choice, you have to help me or Rose is mine," Circady said smugly.

The Doctor stomped over to him and glowered at him.

"Don't threaten me," he growled at him. "I won't give Rose up willingly and trust me; you don't want to fight me. Now…do you want our help or not? Because we can find a way to change Rose back and leave you to the mercy of the humans."

Circady sighed and nodded tersely.

"Yes, I want your help," he said.

"Fine. Then cooperate with us instead of making threats," the Doctor said.

Circady's jaw clenched and he stood silently, fuming, while the Doctor walked back to Rose. He took Rose's hand and glanced at Circady before whispering something in her ear. Rose nodded and gazed into his eyes for a moment before smiling lovingly at him. The Doctor squeezed her hand before asking Tania to continue. Tania looked back at everyone for a moment before glancing at the directions and continuing on.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"This is it," Tania said, twenty minutes later.

They stopped in front of a modest one story wooden house. The wood was dark and a bit weathered and the roof was made of thatch. There were windows on both sides of the house. Both windows had black shutters that were currently over the windows. The front door was made of a lighter shade of wood and was also weathered. A simple brass knocker was on it and the Doctor used the knocker, knocking three times before stepping back and waiting with everyone. He tried knocking again and this time the door was opened by a young man who looked like he had just woken up. His short blonde hair was slightly disheveled and his blue eyes were bleary. He was wearing a loose white shirt that reached down to his knees. He wasn't wearing any trousers or shoes and the Doctor apologized for waking him up. The man yawned before asking them who they were.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said. "Are you Furnish?"

"I am. What do you want?"

"Well, my wife and my friends are new to Seashell and our new friend, Tania, led us here because we're interested in becoming fishermen…and women."

Furnish was taken aback.

"I'm not the captain," he said.

"Yes, I know. But Tania here said that people talk about you and say you're one of the most accomplished fishermen ever!"

"Nice," Amy muttered when she saw how flattered Furnish was after hearing that.

"Well, um…I suppose I could put in a good word for you to the captain," Furnish said.

"Well, could we come inside?" the Doctor said. "Perhaps we could learn more about the fishing trade here and get a few tips from a master like yourself?"

"What is this?" Circady said.

He winced when River seized the back of his neck.

"This is the Doctor in the middle of a plan," she hissed in his ear. "And you will keep your mouth shut and let him do the talking. Got that, Flipper?"

She let go of his neck and Circady glared at her while he rubbed the place where her fingernails had been. Furnish, meanwhile, invited everyone to come inside and told them to wait in the front room while he changed into some proper clothes. Everyone followed him inside and waited in the front room. The walls had a few painting of seascapes on them and there were a couple of small wooden tables and chairs along with a wooden chest of drawers and a small bookcase with a few books inside it. The Doctor examined the books, all of which were about fishing or fishermen. He put them back and looked around the room. Rory came up beside him and leaned in.

"Should we risk a search?" Rory muttered to the Doctor.

"Not yet," the Doctor muttered back. "I'm hoping we can get on board his boat and perhaps go out to sea. See what he does before we question him. Maybe he's purposely catching the merpeople now or on the lookout for them. I don't think any of Circady's people are here, this house is far too small and the town is close knit. If he had a mermaid here, I'm sure someone would have noticed something odd sooner or later, especially since the houses are close together. Just pretend to be interested in fishing and observe what he does."

Rory nodded and the Doctor patted him on the shoulder.

"And keep an eye on…" Rory said before jerking his head in Circady's direction.

The Doctor leaned into his ear.

"Yes," he said into Rory's ear. "Because I have a feeling he wants Rose and he might try something if our guard is down."

Rory nodded. He glanced over when Rose walked up to them and frowned when she noticed she was smelling the back of her hand.

"Doctor?" Rose said, walking up to the Doctor.

"No," he said, looking at her.

"No, what?" Rose said with a frown.

"No, I will not sing Under The Sea while you swim around and dance with the fish," the Doctor said.

Rory chuckled when Rose gave the Doctor a withering look. The Doctor grinned, put his arm around her and drew her near.

"What do you want?" he said.

"Circady smells like fish. Do I smell like fish?" Rose said.

The Doctor looked at her for a moment and then cleared his throat.

"Well, I wasn't going to mention it," he said. "But yes, you do have a bit of a fishy mung going on."

"Ugh, I want some perfume or something. I don't wanna smell like tuna," Rose said.

"Oh, I don't know…the tuna smell can be alluring in ways…if I'm hungry enough," the Doctor said, poking her in the ribs.

"What if Furnish says something about it?" Rose said.

"Well…unless you show him the lower half of your body, I'm suspecting he'll think you're a bit smelly and leave it at that," the Doctor said. "Unless he found a way to make merpeople look human I don't think the tuna smell will give you away. So quit worrying. You have me and your friends here; no one will do anything to you."

They looked over when Furnish came back into the room. The Doctor glanced at Circady but River was still by his side making sure he kept his mouth shut. Furnish had changed into black trousers and black boots with a white shirt that was cleaner than the one he had on. He had brushed his hair and now it lay down on his head with a slight fringe over his eyebrows. He looked at everyone and shrugged.

"So, what do you want to know?" he said to them.

"Well, we were wondering if perhaps you could take us out in your boat and show us the basics of being a fishermen?" the Doctor said.

"Well, I'll have to clear it with the captain but I think I can talk him into it."

"Brilliant. Can we go now?" the Doctor said.

Furnish shrugged. He told everyone to follow him and walked to the front door.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

On the way to the boat, Rory walked beside Rose. He kept noticing Rose was scratching furiously at her legs through her dress. After five minutes of observing this, he finally neared her side and asked what was wrong.

"My lower half is itching like crazy," Rose said softly. "It's driving me round the bend."

Rory looked around and noticed a wooden bench by a house. He told everyone to go ahead because he wanted to check on Rose. While he led Rose to the bench, he caught a glimpse of Circady and noticed he was also scratching his legs. The Doctor looked back over his shoulder and told Furnish to go on ahead and they'd meet him at the dock. Furnish shrugged, a bit confused, but he walked on. The Doctor's friends paused for a moment, unsure what to do until the Doctor told them to go on without him. The Doctor turned back to Rory and Rose while the others followed Furnish.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor said to Rory.

"My legs keep itching and it's bothering me," Rose said to the Doctor while she sat down on the bench.

"Circady seemed to have the same problem. I saw them both scratching at their legs," Rory said.

The Doctor looked back to make sure no one was around before he asked Rose to pull up her dress. She did and watched while the Doctor and Rory knelt down in front of it. They were puzzled when they noticed her legs looked shinier than before.

"Look," Rory said, putting his finger on one of the scales. "It's opened a bit."

He grimaced when he pulled his finger away and saw a sticky substance on it.

"And she's leaking something from it," he said.

The Doctor's nose wrinkled. The tuna smell was stronger now that her dress was lifted. He noticed most of the scales were opened a bit at the bottom and the secretion was leaking out onto her legs. He put his finger against her leg and sniffed it, recoiling at the stench. He watched while Rose scratched her upper leg for a moment and then he had a thought.

"Rose, I think I know how merpeople urinate," he said. "I think bodily waste is secreted through the scales. I'm guessing if you were in the ocean, the water would continually wash it away and you wouldn't have the itchy sensation."

"And that's why I stink now?" Rose said.

"Yes. Unfortunately, without the water to wash your lower body, the secretion is sticking to you and you are now the Manky Mermaid."

"Ha ha," Rose said dryly while Rory chuckled.

The Doctor looked around and noticed a barrel filled with rainwater next to a house. He noticed a small bucket beside it and walked over to it. He took the bucket, filled it with some of the rainwater and brought it back to Rose. He had her take her shoes and socks off and while Rory held it, he tipped the bucket of water over her bare legs and let the water flow onto it.

"Better?" the Doctor said, glancing at Rose.

"Yes. The itching stopped immediately," Rose said with a sigh of relief.

"Great. Now what do we do?" Rory said to the Doctor.

"Dunno. I'm hoping this isn't a continuous thing. The scales seem to be sticking against her skin again," the Doctor said, running his hand down her wet leg. "Damn it, I hope Furnish doesn't cotton on. Rose, pull you dress up some more and I'll try to wash your lower half off before we catch up to them. As for Circady, we might have to get him alone and do the same. If he'll let us…"

"Maybe have him go in the water up to his waist," Rory offered.

"Yes but we'll have to be careful not to let Furnish see him if we do that," the Doctor said.

He walked back to the barrel, filled it up while Rose hitched her dress up some more. Rory held it away from her body while the Doctor used his hand to direct some of the water onto her hips and crotch before pouring the rest all over her legs.

"Feel better?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, it's stopped now," Rose said, standing up when Rory let go of her dress.

"If I'm not around, let Rory know if it starts itching again," the Doctor said over his shoulder while he put the bucket back. "You might have to soak in the bath for a couple of hours tonight or go in the ocean and swim around."

"I'll be glad when I switch back to my normal body tomorrow," Rose said, shaking her head. "Being a mermaid isn't all it's cracked up to be."

She looked at the Doctor and Rory.

"And I am switching my body back tomorrow. I'm not staying this way forever," she said to them.

The Doctor smiled proudly.

"Good girl," he said, laying a hand on her cheek. "Because I still think Circady cares more for you than his fiancée. He doesn't seem that upset that she's missing, just upset that we got you away from him. But enough talking. We better catch up to the others before Furnish starts asking questions."

He took Rose's hand and the three of them headed towards the ocean. When they passed by several houses, they saw the ocean in the distance and several ships tied to several long docks jutting out into the water. The boats were long and bulky with an upper and lower deck and a mast with a sail that was currently tied up along with a crow's nest at the very top of it. There was a gangplank that had been lowered down to the wooden dock. The other boats had their gangplanks up and all of the bobbed up and down in the ocean, the water making a sloshing sound each time the boat lowered back down in the water. They saw River standing on the port side, watching for them. She waved and the Doctor waved back and they headed towards her. When they walked out onto the dock, she walked over to the gangplank and walked down it.

"Is everything alright?" she said softly when she reached the dock.

The Doctor told her in hushed tones what happened and River groaned.

"We wondered why Circady kept scratching," River said. "He's up there now with Amy and Tania. Amy's keeping an eye on him while I watched for you but he's going mad scratching himself."

"We'll have to take him into the ocean for a moment," the Doctor said to her. "Can you lot keep Furnish distracted while I try to get Furnish to wash himself?"

"Consider it done," River said. "Wait here. Rory, Rose, come with me. We'll try to get Circady to come down to you and we'll keep Furnish distracted."

Rose squeezed the Doctor's hand before she and Rory headed up the gangplank with River. The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and turned towards the ocean, watching the waves crash onto the shore while he waited. He heard footsteps on the gangplank and turned to see Circady and Rose coming towards him. Rose had an exasperated look on her face and the Doctor narrowed his eyes.

"Sorry, Doctor, he wouldn't come without me," Rose said when they reached him.

"No one is trying to spirit her away from you," the Doctor said tersely.

"She is my hostage so she will come with me," Circady said smugly.

The Doctor bit back his rage, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. Circady sensed his restrain and his gloating look became even more pronounced. The Doctor sighed and beckoned to Circady and Rose to follow him. As they walked off the dock, he looked back and saw River standing by the top of the gangplank, glowering at Circady's back. The Doctor took them down under the docks and told Circady to pull up his robe.

"What is this?" Circady said.

"This is me helping alleviate your itching. You need to clean your lower half and the itching will stop so get in the water and wash yourself."

Circady gave him a wary look but he pulled up his robe and waded into the surf.

"How about you? Do you need another dip in the water?" the Doctor said to Rose while she stood beside him.

"No, I'm fine," Rose said, shaking her head. "I don't think anymore of that stuff has leaked out."

The Doctor knelt down and pulled up part of her dress, checking while Circady washed himself. He noticed Circady was giving him a wary look when he noticed what the Doctor was doing but the Doctor ignored him while he examined Rose's legs.

"The scales seemed to go back into the skin now," the Doctor said, running his hand down her leg. "Apparently, it's not a continuous thing."

"Thank God for that," Rose sighed.

He dropped her dress and stood up.

"So at the wedding we'll be rolling a big aquarium up the aisle and you'll splash around in it while we exchange vows?" he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"No, I'm going to go back to the way I was even if I have to force Fish Boy to change me back," Rose said softly. "But his mum seemed to be sympathetic to me. She said she was once human but she changed voluntarily so maybe she'll make her son change me back."

"She better because if I have to force him, he'll regret it," the Doctor said with steely eyes. "And I think River will be there to help me from the way she's looking at Fish Boy."

Rose looked up at River who was giving Circady a look of death while he finished washing himself off. She turned her gaze to Rose and smiled and waved. Rose waved back and giggled when River made her hand into a gun and mimed shooting Circady.

"Yes. She seems to be very protective of me," Rose said after River winked at her and went back to watching Circady.

"Good. Better than the two of you at each other's throats," the Doctor said.

He fell silent when Circady came out of the water and dropped his robe.

"Better?" the Doctor said to him.

"Yes. Thank you," Circady said.

"You're welcome. I could have let you keep on scratching but I decided to be friendly and show you how to get that stuff off your legs. I hope you take that as a sign that I would like to be your friend."

Circady said nothing and walked past him. The Doctor rolled his eyes and took Rose's hand while they followed him up onto the dock.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Furnish set sail after everyone was on board and headed for deep waters. There were ten other people on board with them, all young men who were extremely muscular and tanned. Furnish explained that they were the usual crew of his ship and every morning they reported for duty if the weather was agreeable. Rose and Amy kept away from them when they noticed they kept giving them lustful looks and muttering to each other about how sexy they were. River, on the other hand, wasn't fazed by their leering looks and ignored them completely while she stood on deck and looked out over the ocean. When she looked over the boat, she could see a large fishing net hanging off the side. The net had ropes attached to both ends and the ropes went up and over the side to a wooden spool. The spool had cranks on either side of it to crank the net up and over the side. At the moment there was still a great deal of rope wound around the middle of the spool since the net hadn't been deployed yet.

River sensed someone coming towards her and looked over her shoulder. The Doctor was coming her way and River pointed out the net to him. The Doctor leaned his arms on the wooden railing and studied it.

"It's large, could hold a fair amount of fish in it," he said to River.

"Or a merperson," River added.

"I had a dekko down below," the Doctor said, pointing down. "I didn't see any chains or fish tanks or anything that indicated they've been taking merpeople prisoner."

"Maybe when they catch one they just knock it out and leave it unconscious until they get back to shore," River said.

"Yes, but…surely someone sees them carrying a fish person down the ramp and through the town," the Doctor said.

"You have your suspicions about this then?" River said.

"I have many suspicions. Most of them to do with Circady," the Doctor replied as he turned around and leaned on the side. "I'm beginning to wonder if there is a fiancé since he doesn't seem to be gutted that she's gone now. I think his eye is on Rose and this is just some sort of diversion, an excuse to justify taking her."

"So what do we do?" River said.

"Keep an eye on him. After Furnish is done fishing, I want to question him. But first, I want to see what he catches," the Doctor said, glancing at her.

"Should I torture them?" River said.

The Doctor was shocked and then gave her a wry look when she patted his cheek.

"Never mind, if I did that, you would strand me on an asteroid somewhere," River said sweetly.

The Doctor smiled at that and turned his attention to Rose when he noticed her coming up from below, an annoyed look on her face. Rose looked around and noticed the Doctor and River. She breathed a sigh of relief, climbed up out of the hatch and headed for them.

"Circady is being an irritating sod and I'm about ready to punch him," Rose said as she walked towards them.

"Why? What's he doing now?" the Doctor said.

"Keeps on telling me that I'll be his over and over and over. Can I hit him, please?" Rose said, walking up to the Doctor.

"Can I shoot him and string him up by his fish legs?" River added.

"My, my, my, so much rage here," the Doctor said, looking at both women. "I expect a bit more calm from you both. Besides, I'm the leader, I get to kill him."

Rose chuckled at that and looked over the side.

"Besides, I think Amy and Rory will get to him first," she said as she watched the water lapping the side of the boat. "They're also angry that he won't shut up."

The Doctor turned around and in a hushed voice, told Rose his suspicions.

"I think you're right," Rose said when he finished. "He barely mentions this other woman but he's always banging on about how I'll be his. I don't see any evidence of any merpeople being on this boat. I think this is a distraction."

"Rose, head's up, he's coming on deck," Amy said as she climbed up out of the hold. "He turned around and noticed you were missing and now he's on the hunt for you."

Rose groaned. The Doctor moved behind her and opened the sides of his coat.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked him.

"Forcefield. My coat will block any attempt to see you," the Doctor said.

"Seriously?" Rose said.

"No, but it would be a cool thing to have," the Doctor said, letting go of his coat.

Amy walked over to them just as Circady's head came up out of the hole. He scanned around and his eyes narrowed when he saw Rose with the Doctor. The Doctor spun around and folded his arms over his chest, watching while Circady came up out of the hold and walked over to them.

"She's not yours yet so leave her alone," the Doctor growled at him. "She's tired of you following her around, demanding she stay at your side. She's not going anywhere, mate, so quit harassing her."

Circady glared at him and the Doctor noticed him balling up his fist but he didn't flinch and Circady snorted and went to the other side of the boat instead.

"Thank you," Rose said to the Doctor.

"I just hope he finally gets the message now," the Doctor said, watching Circady while he leaned over the other side of the boat and sulked.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

When they reached a certain spot far out to sea, Furnish ordered that the anchor be lowered. By now, Rory had come out on deck and they moved down to the stern while the men lowered the neck into the water. Circady walked to the other side but he kept his distance from Rose while he watched the men warily. Furnish walked up to the side and watched the net sink down into the depths of the ocean. The Doctor walked over to him, intending to strike up a casual conversation in the hopes of finding out any information about the merpeople.

"So, the fishing is good here?" the Doctor said, leaning against the railing beside Furnish.

"So far. But we've had to move around in recent months," Furnish said. "Our population is growing and the supply isn't keeping up with demand."

"Don't you have other sources of food?" the Doctor said.

"We do but seafood is our main source of sustenance," Furnish said. "The elders tried promoting other foods in the hopes of encouraging the people to lay off the fish but it hasn't worked out. We used to fish very close to shore but now the fish rarely come that close. We have to go out farther and farther. Pretty soon we'll be going out a day's journey or more. Be a shame since I like to be home by nightfall."

"Do you catch the same sort of fish each time?"

"Most of the time," Furnish said. "We have a fish called Starlight Speckled Trout, they're in abundance. Then there are a few others that we catch most of the time and several others that we catch every so often, the rare ones."

"Like what? What's the rarest sea creature you've caught?"

Furnish grinned.

"Want to see one?" he said.

"You have one on board?" the Doctor said.

"Sure do. It's down below. Want to see it?"

"Yeah," the Doctor said.

Furnish beckoned to him and the Doctor followed, his hearts beating quickly at the thought of finding evidence of kidnapping right on board the ship. They went down into the hold and Furnish led him through the semidarkness towards the bow of the ship. The interior was lit with lanterns that threw shadows on the wooden sides of the ship. There were a few hammocks strung between posts but not enough for the entire crew. The Doctor asked about it and Furnish shrugged.

"We use those when we take breaks. Some of the lads want to stretch out and rest," he said. "We haven't gone out far enough to use them for sleeping which is why there aren't enough for the whole crew. This way, mate."

He led the Doctor to a long wooden chest that was about 6 feet long and 3 feet wide. The lid was locked with a padlock and the Doctor watched while Furnish took out a key from his pocket and unlocked it. It snapped open and Furnish took it off and put it in his pocket with the key. Then he opened the lid up and smiled proudly as the Doctor peered in.

"This is called a Rainbow Carp," he said, pointing to the stuffed fish inside the chest. "Biggest one we ever caught. About five foot long."

The Doctor's hearts sank but at the same time he was impressed with the size of the fish. He helped Furnish lift it out of the chest and they took it over to a lantern hanging off an overhead beam. The Doctor was amazed when the light made the rainbow colored scales shimmer.

"This is gorgeous," he said. "But why did you have to kill it?"

"Trophy, mate," Furnish said.

"I know but you coulda kept it in a tank."

"We debated whether or not to do that but none of us had the tank for it and couldn't afford to keep it. The elders didn't want it and we didn't want it ending up as food so we took it to the taxidermist instead."

"Is this it? Have you ever found anything else that's unusual?" the Doctor said as he helped Furnish put the fish back in the chest.

"Not really, it's pretty mundane out here really," Furnish said.

"What about…mermaids?" the Doctor said.

Furnish chuckled.

"I wish," he said as he locked the chest. "I'm single and I would like a bit of tail."

The Doctor chuckled at his joke. He studied his face but couldn't see any deception there. His earlier hunch about Circady's deception surfaced in his mind.

"In all seriousness though, we haven't seen anything like that," Furnish said. "Would be nice though."

"Yes, it would," the Doctor said, again picking up no hints of deception from Furnish.

Furnish patted him on the shoulder before they headed back towards the hatch.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

After exploring below, Tania came up on deck. The air was warm with a slight breeze that blew her hair around her head. She has always wanted to be a fisherman and had always envied the men who would go out in the morning to fish but her parents as well as he gender ensured that she would never get to do anything except observe.

While she walked around the deck observing the busy crewmembers, she stopped and watched Rose who was standing near the Doctor. They were looking out at the ocean and talking softly to each other. She noticed that Circady was keeping his distance near the stern but every so often was looking Rose's way and glowering at the Doctor. Amy, Rory and River were nowhere to be seen so she assumed they must have gone below.

Rose noticed her watching and smiled warmly before beckoning her over to them.

"We're just having a chat," Rose said when she walked up to the railing and folded her arms on top of it. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Tania said. "I like being here. I wish I could be a fishermen."

"Why can't you?" the Doctor said.

"Because I'm a girl," Tania muttered.

"Girls aren't allowed to fish here?" the Doctor said.

Tania shook her head.

"This town is so boring, especially for a girl. I want to do exciting things. I want to travel like you do," she said to Rose. "My parents want me to grow up and get married and have children and that's it."

"Women aren't allowed to work?" Rose said.

"Yes but it has to be women's work," Tania said.

"And what is women's work?" the Doctor said.

"Washing clothes, cooking, sewing, teaching, stuff like that."

"That's boring. Rose here has done much more than that and she's just as capable as a man," the Doctor said.

"I know I can do things that men can do but the town and my parents won't let me."

"Well, when you become an adult, can't you just leave?" Rose said. "I left my mum to go traveling with him. She protested at first but she couldn't do anything to stop me since I'm grown."

"I could move to some other town but we don't have spaceships so I can't leave the planet."

"So you're…stuck here forever?" the Doctor said.

"Until someone visits here but you're the first people to do that in ages."

"So that's why they want you to stay and make babies," the Doctor said.

"Yup," Tania said with a nod.

"But what about your neighbors," the Doctor said, pointing to a planet in the sky. "Do they have space travel?"

"All our neighbors do, yeah," Tania said, glancing up.

"And you don't," Rose said.

Tania nodded.

"Why?" Rose and the Doctor said in unison.

"The elders don't want them."

"Why? Are they afraid people will start leaving the planet and never come back?" Rose said.

"I don't know but I don't like it," Tania said. "I would love to travel around like you do. Staying here is boring."

"Well, perhaps I can speak to Zan about that when we return to shore," the Doctor said. "I find it odd that you lot are stuck in primitive mode while your neighbors have space travel. Makes for a one sided arrangement when it comes to trade. Perhaps if you had ships you could go and get supplies from other planets and you wouldn't have to fish the ocean until everything's depleted."

"That would be cool. To go and see our neighbors," Tania said. "They haven't visited here since I was a baby."

"I think we oughta look into this when we get back, Rose," the Doctor said to her. "Find out why the elders are anti-technology. If they had the means to go and trade with their neighbors they could not only guarantee enough food for everyone but an abundance of different things that could enrich everyone's lives. Do you know why the other planets stopped sending people?"

Tania shook her head.

"Maybe the elders scared them off," Rose said with a shrug. "Didn't want the people to look at the spaceships and desire them like Tania does."

"Could be, we'll ask about that as well," the Doctor said. "I just have a feeling there's more here than meets the eye."

Rose was about to agree with him when Furnish suddenly gave orders to raise the net. Circady came to the side, away from the Doctor and Rose but still keeping his eye on them while men rushed to the cranks. Two muscular men on one crank and another pair of muscular men on the other one. Both men began to crank up the rope, grunting and straining to get the net into the boat. Tania looked over when River, Amy and Rory came up beside her. River smiled at her as the three of them leaned over to watch. Rose glanced at Circady and noticed the disgusted look on his face when they finally saw the net near the surface of the water. The net was filled to the brim with stuggling fish that began to flop around the moment they hit the air. Most of the fish were dark blue with brilliant yellow spots all over their bodies. The Doctor noticed a few rainbow carp mixed in but nothing as big as the one he saw in the chest. He leaned over to look but he couldn't see any merpeople caught in the net.

When the net reached the top of the boat, more men ran to help pull it in. River, Amy and Rory ran to help them and the Doctor noticed with amusement that the men were giving Amy and River shocked looks while they tugged and pulled with the others. Rose gleefully ran to help while the Doctor chuckled and Tania, after glancing at him, ran to help as well. All of them with the men helping on the cranks managed to get the net into the boat. The fish began to spill out of the opening at the top and flop around on the deck while men ran to get containers for them. The Doctor examined the catch and confirmed that there were no merpeople inside the net. Furnish walked over to the Doctor and pointed to the blue ones with the yellow spots.

"These are the Starlight Speckled Trout I was telling you about. We called them that because the yellow spots look like stars."

"They're gorgeous," the Doctor said as a few flopped around his feet. "I see a few Rainbow Carp as well."

"Yes, but not as big as the trophy," Furnish said while the Doctor nodded in agreement.

When the men returned carrying big wooden boxes, everyone helped put the fish inside them. The waterproof and watertight boxes were filled halfway with seawater to help keep the catch fresh. By now most of the fish had died but there were still a few who clung to life. They breathed the water when they were put into the boxes but they were quickly overwhelmed when everyone piled other fish into the box. By now, Circady was inspecting the boxes, his face twisted in disgust and the Doctor kept a wary eye on him in case he started protesting to Furnish and revealing his true identity. But he noticed that Furnish was more concerned with the women helping them and was trying to shoo them away. The Doctor grinned when Furnish tried that with River while she was scooping some of the wriggling fish out of the net and putting it into a box.

"Am I doing it wrong?" she said.

"No, this is men's work," Furnish said.

"And I'm supposedly incapable of putting fish into a box then," River said.

"Men do this, it's the way things are around here," Furnish said.

The Doctor put his hand over his mouth to hide the smile when he saw the indignant look on River's face. She looked at him and he shrugged and snickered when River rolled her eyes, called to the other women to stop helping and walked away.

"What? We can't help you?" Amy said while Rose walked away laughing.

"We have jobs that belong only to men and jobs that belong only to women and this is men's work," one of the fishermen said to her.

"Well, so sorry to cause a scandal, mate," Amy said while the Doctor shook with silent laughter. "I'm sorry my female hands touched your manly fish."

Rory paused and looked at the Doctor.

"What about me?" he said.

"Apparently your penis qualifies you to put the fish in the box," the Doctor said with another shrug. "So I suppose you can keep going if you want to."

Rory shook his head and decided to follow the women's lead. He stopped what he was doing and walked around the men towards his family and friends. The Doctor looked over his shoulder when Circady came up behind him.

"Look at this! No wonder the ocean is being depleted," Circady said to him while he pointed to the boxes of fish. "They have no right to take all of this."

"Perhaps not but telling them what you really are will only get you locked in a fish tank so I'd keep silent if I were you," the Doctor said to him in a terse voice. "We're going to sort it out but you need to act like a human which means for the moment, don't say anything to them about fishing for more than their share."

Circady glowered at him but he kept his mouth shut and the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief through his nose. After the boxes were all filled and the net was empty, Circady was incensed when they threw it out again in search of more and he stomped off towards the stern so he wouldn't have to confront Furnish or the others about it.

"I have a feeling that if we don't find out what's going on soon, Circady will say something and both he and Rose will end up on display in the town square," the Doctor said as he watched Circady lean over the railing at the back of the boat.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

The Doctor was giggling insanely. Ever since his companions were denied the job of handling the fish, they were now running down into the hold and putting their fingers on them and running back out. According to River, their new game was called Defiling the Fish With Alien Estrogen. Rory and Tania stood beside the Doctor watching while Amy looked around before dashing over to the hatch and climbing down. He was even more amused that now they were timing each competitor on how long it took them to get in and out without being seen.

"What if Furnish decides this isn't funny and shoots them?" Rory said to the Doctor while River and Rose made bets on how fast she could go.

"I'm guessing they consider that a worthy risk," the Doctor said.

"They're gonna get in trouble doing that," Tania said as Amy raced out of the hatch and raised her arms in triumph.

"Well, poppet, here's the thing," the Doctor said to her. "My friends and lives mate are extremely headstrong people who don't like someone telling them they can't do something because they're a woman. Which is why now they're running back and forth putting their hands on the fish. Actually, I'm a little surprised at their restraint since I was sure that River was gonna punch Furnish's face in when he told her to get away from the net."

"Trust me, sweetie, I'm still considering it," River said to him while Amy tagged Rose for her turn.

Rose started to run towards the hatch. Then she stopped when she saw the crank and River and Amy laughed when she rubbed her chest against it. Then she ran to the side of the boat and rubbed her butt on the railing. Tania giggled while the Doctor sniggered at her antics. Then she ran over to Rory and pushed on his nose before running back to the other women.

"No one can tell me what to do!" Rose crowed as she put her hands on her hips.

"See, they're hard to control once they get going," the Doctor said to Tania.

Tania giggled. She ran over to the crank and touched it while the women applauded. She ran back to the Doctor and the Doctor grinned and tousled her hair when he saw how proud she was of herself. While they were doing this, Circady was at the bow of the ship by himself, his back turned away while he ignored them. The Doctor noticed him and sighed. He excused himself and walked over to him. When Circady sensed him coming, he looked over his shoulder and glared at him. The Doctor held up his hands.

"I'm not here to tell you to leave Rose alone, I just want to talk to you," he said. "I'd like to be friends, Circady. I hate making enemies. I have too many enemies as it is and besides, I never did anything to you except demand that you return my lives mate to me. You may love her but she's her own woman and she's allowed to be with whoever she wants. Dunno if you've been paying attention to the game behind you but Rose doesn't like being told what to do. Even I have a problem with that sometimes. But I'd rather see her be independent and defiant at times than on her knees bowing and scraping before me. Wouldn't you rather have someone who loved you and wanted to be with you."

"That is not the way for us. We are betrothed to others," Circady said.

"Well, that's not Rose's way. And pulling her down into the depths was a wrong thing to do, especially since she's married to me."

"I lost my betrothed, I cannot be a ruler without a consort," Circady said.

"And did you bother to look first before you snagged Rose?" the Doctor said. "Because you don't seem too gutted that your betrothed is missing. You keep banging on about Rose being yours forever more. So tell me the truth, mate, was there ever a Lalura to begin with?"

"Of course there was," Circady said indignantly.

"Then why are you fixated on Rose?"

Circady shifted a bit and lowered his eyes.

"Because I do not love Lalura," he said, glancing at the Doctor.

"Okay, that's understandable if you're betrothed to someone you barely know. But you barely know Rose so why do you think you could love her instead?"

"Because she reminds me of the woman I did love."

"At last, we're getting somewhere," the Doctor said. "So tell me about her? Who is she and why isn't she around?"

"Her name was Aura," Circady said after a moment's pause.

"Was?"

Circady nodded.

"She was…murdered."

"By who?"

"My father," Circady said, looking at the Doctor. "Because I chose to be with her instead of Lalura."

"He executed her?" the Doctor said, feeling sorry for him.

"Yes. He charged her with fornication with the future heir to the throne and she was eaten by sharks."

The Doctor winced.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry Aura suffered and died because you loved her. But you can't replace her with Rose. Rose isn't Aura and never will be."

Circady nodded, his eyes turning down towards the ocean.

"What about Lalura? Is she really missing?" the Doctor asked.

"No, she's still among our people."

"Then why come here then?"

"Because I thought it would allow Rose to say a final goodbye and placate her."

The Doctor snorted.

"See, you don't know Rose very well, mate," he said.

"And because I wanted to see with my own eyes what the humans are doing to the ocean."

"And have they truly taken any of your people captive?" the Doctor said.

"I don't know. But my father thinks they have. He wishes to go to war with them and now I can see why. All these sea creatures they caught today…don't they know that we eat them as well?"

"I don't think they know of your existence," the Doctor said. "At least Furnish doesn't. I asked him about merpeople and he thought you were a myth."

Circady snorted.

"Such is the intelligence of the surface dwellers," he said. "But you are helping them so why make friends with me?"

"I never said I was helping them. I'm trying to find out what's going on here so I can find a solution that will work for everyone. And lying to me doesn't help matters. Now that I know the truth, I can work with that."

"These…creatures need to go back where they came from," Circady said, gesturing to some of the crewmen.

"Well, at the moment, they don't have spaceships…apparently, so they're stuck here. And I want to find out about that as well since everyone around them does have space travel. I'm guessing the other planets are more advanced while Seashell is run like a medieval village."

"Planets?"

"Planets, Circady," the Doctor said, pointing up to the planets in the sky. "Other worlds, other places for life to exist. There is more than the ocean, you know."

"And these creatures are stuck here with us," Circady said, making a face.

"Listen. Help me, yeah? Help me to find out the truth about Seashell and why the humans are fishing the ocean dry. Stop fixating on Rose. I'm sorry Aura died, I really am, but enslaving Rose and forcing her to be your mate isn't the solution. Why not be friends with her instead? I'm sure she'd love that. I know I would love being friends with you and your people. Just work with us because war isn't the answer for either side."

Circady thought that over and finally nodded.

"Alright, I'll help. I don't want war either but we have a right to live just as they do."

"And I agree with that," the Doctor said, happy that things were finally moving in the right direction.

He held out his hand and Circady stared at it, confused. He showed Circady how to shake hands and explained the gesture and Circady held his hand more firmly and shook it.

"Thank you. So let's wait till we get back to shore and then pay Zan and the elders another visit," the Doctor said to him.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

After their conversation, the Doctor gathered his mate, Tania and companions together at the bow of the ship and told them what he learned from Circady.

"Well at least he's being honest now," Amy said when he finished.

"At least we think he's telling the truth," Rory said, "he could still be lying and making up this story so you'll stop badgering him. I still would keep an eye on him."

"I agree and I intend to," the Doctor said to him. "But at least we have something to work with here. And we still don't know if they're capturing merpeople. Furnish may be innocent but someone else might have done and he doesn't know about it. I'm sure the boats spread out and cover a wide area."

"And you think Zan might know something?" River said.

"Again, I don't know for sure. But it wouldn't be the first time someone tried to misdirect me and throw me off the scent. I refuse to believe that someone could capture a merperson and keep it completely hidden from the rest of the village. Someone would talk, especially since Furnish boasted about capturing that five foot rainbow carp and proudly showed it to me."

"Are you going to put them in jail if they're doing this?" Tania said to him.

"I don't know but if they are lying and taking another species for their own gain, they need to be stopped," the Doctor said to her. "If that means jail, so be it. Just as long as the townspeople learn to leave Circady's people alone and vice versa."

They fell silent when Furnish called for the net to be raised and everyone hurried into position. Circady, at the stern of the boat, turned around and folded his arms over his chest, a scowl on his face, while he watched them bring up the net. The Doctor noticed his fists were clenching and he was shaking with silent anger as the men pulled the net into the boat and began collecting the dying fish. The Doctor saw the speckled trout and rainbow carp and what appeared to be a large grey shark in the midst of them. The shark was feebly snapping at the flopping fish, trying to devour them even as he was dying. Furnish saw it and called for a spear and one of his crewman rushed off to get it. While he was doing that, the Doctor noticed a large teal colored fish tail buried at the back under another mass of wriggling fish. The fish pressed the tail up against the top part of the net but the Doctor could still see a bit of side to side movement. When the man returned and speared the shark's back, Circady turned away and looked out at the water, unable to bear it any longer.

Then one of the men grabbed hold of the teal tail and pulled it out and everyone gasped when they realized it was a young mermaid. The little girl looked like she was no more than six years old. She had long silver hair with streaks of grey in it and grey eyes to match. Her body was pale, nearly translucent and the scales on her tail shimmered in the sunlight. The men stopped working and stared at the frightened mermaid in a stunned silence. The Doctor looked at them and knew Furnish was telling the truth about having never seen a mermaid before since he was just as dumbstruck as the others. Circady had turned around upon hearing the silence and he let out a howl of rage as he ran towards the child. The Doctor ran to her as well and got to her before he did. He knelt down to her, trying to protect her from the men once they recovered from their shock.

"See, they are nothing but thieves!" Circady roared as he pointed to Furnish. "They take our people and sell them!"

"No!"

Circady looked at the Doctor when he barked at him. He pointed to Furnish's stunned face.

"Look at him. They're all shocked, Circady. Furnish told me he didn't think merpeople existed. The shock on his face is genuine!"

"Your people?" one of the men said to Circady when he recovered from his shock.

Circady raised his head proudly.

"I am Prince Circady of the merpeople," he said. "And you humans are invading our territory."

"What do you mean, you have legs," another crewman said to him.

Circady raised his robe and everyone gasped when they saw his blue legs. The Doctor groaned and stood up.

"Thank you, Circady, for blowing your cover," he said sarcastically.

"How is this possible?" Furnish said, shaking his head. "They're human, at least the top half is."

"But they're not human, they're merpeople," the Doctor said. "There are many species of aliens out there who are humanoid, myself included."

"What do you mean?" Furnish said.

"I'm a Time Lord from Gallifrey, I'm not human either," he said. "This is why your people need to go into space and stop being so isolated. How long have you lot been on this planet?"

"Generations," Furnish said.

"At least ten generations," one of his men said.

"Ten generations, at least. And you, Circady, how long have the merpeople lived in the oceans?"

"Millennia, eons, it is not known if we came here or if we were born here but we have been here far longer than ten generations," Circady said, sneering at the men.

"And if Circady is right, you are the colonizers of their planet," the Doctor said to Furnish. "Now perhaps they didn't claim the land but the merpeople certainly claimed the ocean and you're overfishing in their territory."

"But we need to eat," a crewmember said. "We live here too. Don't we deserve to live?"

"Yes, you do," the Doctor said. "And ten generations is quite a long time, enough for you lot to become residents of this planet. But now that you know there is another species, both you and the merpeople will need to find a way to coexist so both species can survive and flourish here. And that includes building spaceships and trading with your neighbors and others for the things you need. You don't need to rely solely on fish. Make it a part of your diet but not the bulk of it, let Circady's people have their share as well. There are ways to coexist peacefully and find a way to live off the land responsibly so everyone can benefit."

He knelt down to the frightened girl and smiled warmly at her while she looked around at the humans with wide eyed terror.

"It's alright, I'm the Doctor and I'm here to help," he said to her. "What's your name?"

"Sapphire," she said softly.

"Sapphire, that's a beautiful name," the Doctor said. "What happened to you? Where are your mum and dad?"

Sapphire pointed to the side of the ship.

"In the water?" the Doctor asked her.

Sapphire nodded.

"What happened?" the Doctor said gently. "Just tell me, ignore them," he added when she looked at the others.

He got Sapphire to focus on him and she told him that she had been swimming with her parents when she saw a shark. She swam towards it, curious about what it was when suddenly this net rose up from under her and the shark and she was pressed down as fish were caught in it. The Doctor nodded sympathetically when she was finished telling her story and looked at Circady.

"Do you know her?" he asked.

"No, but nobility have white hair," he said. "She's someone of worth."

"Everyone is worthy as far as I'm concerned. But she can't stay here, she needs to go back to her parents," the Doctor said.

"Wait! She could convince the humans to leave us alone," Circady said.

"She's a child," Amy said. "She needs to go back to her parents."

Circady thought for a moment and then suddenly he ripped off his robe and before anyone could stop him, he ran to the side of the ship and jumped into the ocean.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

"Circady!" the Doctor yelled as everyone except Sapphire ran to the side of the boat.

They couldn't see him anywhere, their eyes frantically scanning the ocean and looking down into the depths for any sign of him. They waited and waited and just when they thought he had drowned, he resurfaced with a man and a woman. The man and woman had silvery grey hair that matched Sapphire's hair. Circady asked them to lower the net for them and Furnish barked the order to his men. They lowered the net into the water for a few minutes and when they brought it back up, Circady, the man and woman were lying in it. To everyone's surprise, Circady had his tail back.

"How'd that happen?" Rose said to the Doctor. "It hasn't been twenty four hours yet."

"I have a feeling that's something else Circady lied about," the Doctor said, watching while the crewmen grabbed the net and gently pulled it into the boat.

They helped them out of the net and the man and woman embraced Sapphire. Circady looked at the Doctor. The Doctor folded his arms over his chest and gave his tail a pointed look.

"Twenty four hours, eh?" he said.

"I wasn't truthful about that," Circady said sheepishly.

"So I see, so give us the truth then," the Doctor said.

"The pills allow a change back to the original body when necessary. I didn't tell Rose because I was planning to kidnap her at some point when you weren't looking."

"Except you couldn't since someone is always looking at her," the Doctor said. "That's why you were so insistent you remain by her so you could snatch her at the first opportunity."

"I told you my reasons for doing so," Circady said.

"Sire, is this true? You were trying to kidnap a human?" the silver haired man said.

"Only because they've been taking our people," Circady said, pointing to Furnish. "Taking your daughter is proof of that."

"That was an accident, I didn't know your people existed until now," Furnish said while his men nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry. She got caught in my net with the other fish."

"Pardon me," the Doctor said, bending down to the silver haired man. "Who are you and is this your wife?"

"I'm Attickus and this is my wife, Merlainy. Sapphire is our daughter. Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor, pleasure to meet you," he said, extending his hand.

Attickus looked at it in confusion and Rose giggled when the Doctor sheepishly withdrew it.

"These people live in the town of Seashell," the Doctor said, pointing to Furnish and his men. "They have lived here for generations and fish these waters."

"You oughta see what's below," Circady said to them. "How much they've taken from us!"

"The ocean belongs to our people," Attickus said. "It has always been that way for as long as we can remember."

"Yes, but there are others now who wish to live off what they catch and I would recommend negotiating with them and coming to an understanding rather than engage in all out war," the Doctor said.

"War?" Merlainy said alarmed. "When are we going to war?"

"It has only been discussed, Merthaine," Circady said. "But it is an option."

"Merthaine?" Rory said. "I thought her name was Merlainy."

"Merthaine is her title," Circady said. "Merthaine Merlainy and he is Merthorpe Attickus."

Rory nodded.

"I was wondering if you lot would come with us back to the human village and talk with the elders," Rory said.

"Yeah, you are a prince and nobility so surely you can speak for your people," Amy added.

Merlainy looked at her husband and Circady.

"Go among the above dwellers? Be in their midst?" she said worriedly.

"My friends and I will provide you with protection. We will look after you if you wish to do this," the Doctor said.

"But what of this…human you tried to kidnap? Will they be angry about that?" Attickus said.

"Where is this person?" Merlainy said, looking around.

"Me," Rose said, raising her hand and coming forward.

She took off her trainers and showed them her purple feet. Furnish's men muttered amongst themselves while Furnish shook his head in disbelief.

"How is this possible? You can be both a human and a mermaid?" Furnish asked.

"Circady gave her a pill that turned her fishtail into legs. But she was taken from me and my friends and turned into a mermaid first. She's human like you are," the Doctor said.

"And how do you change back and forth by the way?" Rose said to Circady.

"The pill has a delayed effect to it," Circady said. "For the first three hours, there can be no change but after that, salt water reacts with a thin coating of chemicals that are secreted from your skin. That stuff you thought was bodily waste earlier is the chemical I was talking about. It builds up slowly until it itches. Normally, the chemical is slow enough that the first time you notice it is past three hours but it's not always a guarantee."

Rose lifted up her dress and looked at the thin glossy film on her legs.

"So if I get in the water now, I become a mermaid again?" she said.

"Only if it contains salt like the ocean," Circady said.

"So you're like Daryl Hannah in the Splash film," the Doctor said to her. "You get in the water and out comes the fishtail."

"Does it hurt?" Rose said. "It hurt like Hell when I changed earlier."

"Yes, it still hurts a bit but not like the first time because your body had to adjust to the change," Circady said.

"Well, I'll keep out of the water for the moment," Rose said, leaning on the railing so she could put her shoe back on.

"So we're taking these people to see the elders?" Furnish said.

"Do you want to go and speak to them?" the Doctor said to Attickus. "No one seemed to know of your existence before now and it might make a difference. Besides, I want to speak to them anyway…"

He trailed off when he noticed Circady's tail was beginning to separate into legs again.

"It does this when it dries out," Circady explained. "As long as I'm in the ocean, I'll have my tail."

"So it is like Splash then!" the Doctor said gleefully. "Never mind," he added when he saw the confused looks on the merpeople's faces. "So…what do you think? Would you like to speak to them?"

"What do you think?" Attickus said to his wife.

"If these humans are hurting our environment unintentionally then I think we should speak to them and try for a peaceful solution," Merlainy said.

"And you'll protect us?" Attickus said to the Doctor.

"You have my word, I and my friends will protect you," the Doctor said.

"Very well, we'll go. But are you going to carry us there? We can't walk on land," Attickus said.

"I will go and get some more pills for them if you'll give me time," Circady said. "Just help me go back into the water.

The Doctor nodded. He picked up Circady and held him out over the side of the boat. Circady nodded and when the Doctor let go he dove back into the water and swam away.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

While they waited for Circady to return, the Doctor struck up a conversation with Attickus and Merlainy while Tania talked to Sapphire. The Doctor admired the silvery fishtail that the family had and the way they sparkled in the sunlight while they swished them lazily back and forth.

"So these elders, do you really think they'll listen to you?" Merlainy said to the Doctor.

"I hope so. I believe that all species have a right to live somewhere. You lot were the first to colonize this section of the planet but that doesn't mean that the humans can't live peacefully with you. Perhaps you could even help each other and share information.

"You are very idealistic, above dweller," Attickus said.

"I try to be. And there's many times when my idealistic ideas worked. These men could have captured you and put you in an aquarium but they're allowing us to go back to the elders and work something out. Which says to me that some humans are willing to listen and not annihilate all of you."

They heard Circady asking to be let back into the boat and the Doctor and Rory manned the cranks and lowered the net into the water while the women watched from the side. They waited a few minutes and then brought it back up with Circady resting inside it. Rose looked around before she, River and Amy pulled the net over the side into the boat. They helped Circady get free and he pointed to a small rectangular case that was hanging by a heavy chain around his neck. He took it off and opened the silver case and handed Attickus three pills before closing it and putting it back around his neck. Attickus gave one pill to his wife and his daughter. Sapphire stared at the pill in her hand while her parents swallowed theirs.

"Take it," Tania said. "It'll turn you into a human like me."

Sapphire gave her father a questioning look and he nodded and told her to take it. She did and soon the three of them were writhing around on the deck while Furnish looked on in horror.

"My God, are they being tortured by this?" Furnish said.

"Yeah, pretty much," Rose said while the Doctor and Rory knelt beside the three and did their best to comfort them and talk them through it.

Their cries of agony brought some of Furnish's crewmen over and they watched with equal horror as the fishtails split into human legs. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when it was all over and he tried his best to comfort Sapphire who was sobbing quietly. Rose, River and Amy helped Attickus and Merlainy to stand up and walked with them while the Doctor and Tania did the same with Sapphire.

"This is incredible," Furnish said to Rory while the others helped Attickus and his family get used to their new legs. "To think, these people were living just off shore."

"Yeah, I come from a place where you don't see things like this," Rory said. "Takes some getting used to, trust me. Now it's routine."

"Seeing mermaids become human is routine for you?" Furnish said.

"Well, things like it. This is the first time I've ever met merpeople," Rory said. "Trust me, I've seen things that even I had trouble believing in and I was there."

After the three temporary humans got used to walking, the Doctor went to see about some clothes for them. Once she was over her fear and pain, Sapphire was intrigued by walking upright and her silvery legs. She and Tania raced around the deck laughing and playing like children. Attickus observed their play and smiled at his wife.

"Perhaps the children at least could coexist," he said to her while gesturing to his daughter who was now racing around the deck with Tania at her side.

By the time they pulled up to the dock and the men were weighing anchor, the Doctor had returned with an extra sail that he and Furnish and a couple of his men had cut into with swords. The pieces of sail were wrapped around Attickus and Merlainy's bodies like towels and tied tight with some rope.

"Sorry, we'll have to find something in the village but this will do for the walk over," the Doctor said.

He wrapped a smaller piece around Sapphire and tied it with some rope. When the gangplank was lowered, the three merpeople gingerly stepped onto it and walked down. Sapphire took the lead, giggling at the feel of the wood on her feet. When she reached the dock, she stamped down on it with one foot and walked off it onto the sand. She stood there, running her foot back and forth under the sand, loving the feel of it between her toes. Tania caught up to her, took her sandals off and the two of them briefly ran around in the sand, laughing and giggling while the adults watched.

"I see Tania has made a friend," the Doctor said happily. "Perhaps the others can befriend the merpeople as well."

Tania and Sapphire stopped playing and followed the adults into the village. Several people were out attending to business and they stopped and looked at the strangers and stared at Attickus and his family, noting their odd choice of attire while they walked to the elder's house.

When they reached the house, the Doctor knocked on the door. He groaned when Mongo opened it and glared at him.

"Hi, can we come in and see…"

"NO! IT IS FORBIDDEN!" Mongo yelled.

He tried to close the door but the Doctor lunged against it with his shoulder and Mongo staggered back as the Doctor came inside the house.

"Hey! You are trespassing!" Mongo said, pointing a finger at him.

"Then go and tell Zan we wish to see him," the Doctor said, trying to keep his temper in check. "I have news for him and I have people he needs to meet. Now quit yelling in my face and do it!"

Mongo glowered at him and the Doctor returned the glare. Mongo finally walked away, grumbling under his breath about strangers not being allowed to see the Elder unless a meeting is arranged. The Doctor rolled his eyes at that and told everyone to come inside.

"NO! IT IS FORBIDDEN!" Amy yelled at him.

"Okay, everyone except Pond can come inside," the Doctor said while Amy snickered.

Amy pinched his cheek affectionately and came inside with everyone else.

"Think Zan will be glad to see us?" River said softly to him while he closed the door.

"Probably not but he'll see us nonetheless," the Doctor said.

All of the crewmembers had gone home except for Furnish, he stood near the back of the group and looked around. The Doctor thanked him for coming.

"No worries, I want to add my two credits to this," Furnish said. "Besides, these merpeople don't seem like a threat and the little one likes Tania so I don't see why we couldn't live in peace."

"My thoughts exactly," the Doctor said.

Rose stood off to the side waiting for Mongo to come back when Circady came up to her. She gave him a wary look and he held up his hand.

"Not trying to harass you, just wanted to apologize for my behavior," he said.

Rose relaxed and nodded.

"It's just that…you look so much like Aura that I was hoping I could have her through you. I'm not evil and I'm not a kidnapper. I just was grieving and didn't think things through. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I lost him once and it nearly done me in," Rose said, pointing to the Doctor. "It took awhile for me to find him again but I was grieving just as much for his loss as you probably do for Aura so I can't blame you."

"I would like to be friends if that's okay," Circady said.

Rose smiled and nodded.

"I'd like that," she said.

Her smile widened when Circady beamed at that. He took her left hand and gently kissed the back of it.

"Thank you, Lady Rose," he said to her.

"I'm not a lady," Rose said.

"To me you are, you have the makings of a noble and so in my mind you are Lady Rose."

The Doctor, who had been listening in, chuckled when Rose blushed deeply at that. He turned his attention to Mongo when he came into the room.

"Zan will see you now," Mongo said curtly.

"Thank you, lead on then," the Doctor said to him.


End file.
